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PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •  BOSTON  •  CHICAGO 
ATLANTA  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 


FREIE  UNIVERSITAT  BERLIN 

Institut  fur  Ethnologie  ^t^^JC 
und  Sozialpsychologid    inventarisiert  Ho^^^rs*--  - 

PRIMITIVE 
SECRET  SOCIETIES 

^  Study  in  Early  Politics 
and  Religion 


BY 


HUTTON  WEBSTER,  Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  SOCIOLOGY  AND  ANTHROPOLOGY  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  NEBRASKA 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1908 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1908, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  January,  1908. 


NorfajootJ  3Presg 
J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Co 

MY  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 


PREFACE 


Recent  years  have  witnessed  great  accretions  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  initiation  ceremonies  and  secret  societies 
found  among  many  savage  and  barbarous  communities 
throughout  the  world.  The  data  bearing  upon  these  mat- 
ters, collected  by  the  patient  efforts  of  scholarly  investigators 
in  Australia,^  Melanesia,  Africa,  and  North  America,  are 
of  singular  interest  to  the  student  of  primitive  sociology 
and  religion.  The  present  work  represents  an  effort, 
necessarily  provisional  in  the  light  of  existing  information, 
to  arrive  at  the  significance  of  the  materials  so  laboriously 
and  so  carefully  collected.  Starting  with  no  preconceived 
notions  of  the  subject,  the  author  has  endeavored  to  shape 
his  theories  in  accordance  with  his  facts  and  in  many  in- 
stances by  abstaining  from  generalization,  to  let  his  facts 
carry  their  own  significance  to  the  reader's  mind.  In  the 
final  chapter,  which  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  appendix,  the 
wide  diffusion  of  initiatory  rites  and  secret  organizations 
has  been  indicated.  The  bibliography  supplied  in  this 
connection,  though  not  exhaustive,  probably  notices  nearly 
everything  of  importance  so  far  published. 

The  scope  of  the  work  precluded  any  attempt  to  supply  a 
detailed  examination  of  the  various  secret  societies.  More- 
over, the  evidence  for  the  men's  house  (Chap.  I)  and  for  the 
age-classificatory  system  (Chap.  VI)  has  been  presented  only 
in  barest  outline.  For  additional  details  on  these  several 
topics,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  valuable  treatise  by 
the  late  Heinrich  Schurtz  {Altersklassen  und  Manner biindey 

vii 


vili 


PREFACE 


Berlin,  1902).  Had  I  learned  of  Dr.  Schurtz*s  book  at 
the  beginning  of  my  studies  instead  of  at  their  conclusion, 
I  should  have  gained  a  greater  profit  from  this  first  effort 
to  summarize  the  evidence  for  the  puberty  institution  and 
the  secret  society.  But  I  am  glad  to  acknowledge  my 
indebtedness  to  this  work  as  well  as  to  the  writings  of  Leo 
Frobenius  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Frazer,  for  sundry  references  to 
literature  which  I  had  overlooked,  even  after  a  somewhat 
protracted  research. 

In  its  original  form  as  a  thesis  for  the  doctorate  in  Politi- 
cal Science  at  Harvard  University,  my  study  has  enjoyed 
the  advantage  of  a  preliminary  examination  by  Professor 
W.  Z.  Ripley  and  Professor  T.  N.  Carver.  To  them  my 
sincere  thanks  are  due,  as  also  to  Professors  Toy  and  Moore, 
whose  reading  of  the  manuscript  —  a  work  of  supereroga- 
tion on  their  part  —  was  all  the  more  appreciated.  To 
Professor  Roland  B.  Dixon  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  I 
feel  especially  indebted  for  helpful  advice  and  never-failing 
encouragement  from  the  beginning  of  my  task  to  its  com- 
pletion. Nor  must  I  fail  to  acknowledge  a  non-academic 
obligation  to  my  wife,  whose  unselfish  devotion  has  light- 
ened many  burdens  in  the  preparation  of  this  book. 

HUTTON  WEBSTER. 

Lincoln,  Nebraska, 
December,  1907. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Men's  House 

In  primitive  society  the  separation  of  the  sexes  a  widespread  and  fundamental 
practice,  p.  i .  —  This  separation  in  part  secured  by  the  institution  of 
the  men's  house,  which  serves  a  general  purpose  as  the  centre  of  the 
civil,  religious,  and  social  life  of  the  tribe,  and  a  special  purpose  as  the 
abode  of  unmarried  males,  pp.  i,  2. — Examples  of  this  institution  to 
be  found  among  savage  and  barbarous  peoples  in  all  parts  of  the  world : 
in  Australia,  p.  3  ;  in  New  Guinea,  pp.  3—5  ;  throughout  the  Melane- 
sian  area,  pp.  5,  6 ;  among  the  islands  of  Torres  Straits,  pp.  6,  7  ;  in 
Borneo,  pp.  7,  8 ;  in  the  East  Indian  and  Philippine  Archipelago, 
pp.  8,  9  ;  in  Hindustan  and  Further  India,  pp.  9,  10;  throughout  the 
Micronesian  and  Polynesian  area,  pp.  10-12;  in  Africa,  pp.  12—14; 
in  South  America,  pp.  14,  1 5  ;  in  Mexico  and  Central  America,  pp.  15, 
16;  and  in  various  regions  of  North  America,  pp.  16—19. 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Puberty  Institution 

Sexual  separation  within  the  tribe  also  secured  by  the  grouping  of  the  males 
on  the  basis  of  age  distinctions,  p.  20. — The  passage  from  one  age 
group  to  another  usually  attended  with  ceremonies  of  a  secret  and  initia- 
tory character,  p.  20.  — '  Such  ceremonies  especially  numerous  and 
significant  when  the  tribal  youth  reach  the  age  of  puberty,  p.  21. — 
Initiatory  rites  mark  the  completion  of  childhood  and  the  separation  of 
the  youth  from  women  and  children,  pp.  21—24. — Initiation  into  the 
tribal  association  consequently  compulsory  for  the  males,  pp.  24-27.  — 
The  uninitiated  enjoy  no  privileges  or  prestige,  p.  27.  —  Great  im- 
portance must  be  attached  to  initiation  as  providing  strong  bonds  of 
brotherhood  within  the  tribe,  pp.  27,  28. — Initiatory  performances 
form  the  characteristically  social  feature  of  primitive  life,  pp.  28-31. 

ix 


X 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  III 
The  Secret  Rites 

The  general  features  of  the  secret  rites  —  the  periodic  initiation  of  the  young 
men  by  the  elders,  their  seclusion,  their  subjection  to  various  ordeals, 
their  instruction  in  tribal  wisdom  and  obedience  —  much  the  same  among 
all  primitive  peoples,  p.  32.  — An  example  in  the  rites  of  the  Tusca- 
rora  Indians,  pp.  32,  33. — The  initiatory  ordeals  provide  a  prepara- 
tion for  the  life  of  v^arriors  and  serve  as  tests  of  courage  and  endurance, 
pp.  34,  35. — Puberty  mutilations  often  the  badges  or  signs  of  initia- 
tion, pp.  35,  36. — Circumcision  as  the  typical  ordeal,  p.  37, — 
Initiation  rites  usually  include  a  mimic  representation  of  the  death  and 
resurrection  of  the  novices,  pp.  38-40.  —  Candidates  also  acquire  a  new 
name  and  an  esoteric  dialect,  pp.  40—43. — At  the  close  of  their 
initiatory  seclusion  novices  often  allowed  sexual  privileges  previously 
forbidden  to  them,  pp.  43-45. — The  initiatory  ceremonies  of  girls 
distinctly  less  impressive  and  important  than  those  of  the  boys,  pp.  45, 
46.  —  Theories  of  the  origin  and  primary  significance  of  puberty  rites, 
pp.  46-48. 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Training  of  the  Novice 

Real  value  of  the  instruction  received  by  the  novices  during  extended  periods 
of  seclusion,  pp.  49,  50. — The.  teaching  of  these  tribal  seminaries 
covers  a  wide  range  of  topics,  p.  50.  —  Australian  lads  Jearn  the  mar- 
riage laws,  the  tribal  customs  and  traditions,  the  native  games,  songs,  and 
dances,  and  the  prevailing  moral  code  of  the  community,  pp.  50,  51. 
—  Similar  features  characterize  the  initiatory  preparation  of  candidates 
among  other  primitive  peoples:  in  Torres  Straits,  p.  52;  in  New 
Guinea  and  New  Pomerania,  pp.  53,  54;  among  the  inhabitants  of 
Fiji,  Halamahera,  and  Ceram,  p.  54 ;  among  many  African  tribes, 
pp.  54-56 ;  and  among  the  aborigines  of  South  America  and  North 
America,  pp.  56—58. 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Power  of  the  Elders 

General  excellence  of  the  initiatory  training,  p.  59. — Its  permanent  effects 
in  the  increased  respect  felt  by  the  novices  for  the  old  men  and  their 
customs,  pp.  59,  60. — Thus  the  mysteries  as  the  most  conservative 


CONTENTS 


xi 


of  primitive  customs  provide  an  effective  system  of  social  control,  p.  60. 
—  Elements  of  deceit  and  chicanery  appear  in  the  puberty  institution 
when  the  elders  learn  to  use  the  ceremonies  for  their  ov^n  private  ad- 
vantage, pp.  60,  61.  —  Illustrations  of  the  mysterious  and  magical 
objects  revealed  to  candidates  at  the  time  of  initiation,  pp.  61-64. — 
Rigorous  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  novices  which  materially  con- 
tribute to  the  prosperity  of  the  older  men,  pp.  65,  66.  —  Many  exam- 
ples of  the  numerous  food  taboos  usually  enforced  at  this  time,  pp.  66— 

70.  — Australia  furnishes  some  evidence  of  matrimonial  taboos,  pp.  70, 

71.  —  Often,  also,  these  puberty  restrictions  prolonged  for  a  lengthy 
period  after  the  completion  of  the  preliminary  ordeals,  pp.  71—73. 

CHAPTER  VI 
Development  of  Tribal  Societies 

With  increasing  social  progress,  the  powers  of  control  are  gradually  shifted 
from  the  elders  to  the  chiefs,  and  tribal  societies  charged  with  impor- 
tant political  and  judicial  functions  arise  on  the  basis  of  the  original 
puberty  organizations,  pp.  74,  75. — As  contrasted  with  these  earlier 
institutions,  tribal  societies  present  several  characteristic  features :  limited 
membership;  degrees";  lodges";  and  elaborate  paraphernalia 
of  mystery,  pp.  75—78. — In  some  cases,  however,  the  puberty  insti- 
tution may  undergo  a  process  of  gradual  obsolescence,  pp.  78—80. — 
In  exceptional  instances  the  initiatory  rites  may  be  retained  even  after 
the  development  of  permanent  chieftainships,  pp.  80—82, — The  main 
line  of  development  is,  however,  into  the  tribal  secret  society  with 
limited  membership  and  numerous  degrees,  p.  83. — Origin  of  grades 
or  degrees  in  the  age-classificatory  system,  p.  83.  — Australian  evidence 
for  age-classifications,  pp.  83-86. — Evidence  from  New  Guinea  and 
Fiji,  p.  86.  —  Evidence  from  Africa,  pp.  86-90. — Limitation  of 
membership  which  follows  upon  the  development  of  numerous  degrees, 
pp.  90—93.  — Initiation  into  the  lower  grades  of  the  secret  society  may 
still  be  customary  when  the  upper  grades  are  reserved  for  picked  initiates 
who  can  control  the  organization,  pp.  93—95. — Originally,  as  in 
Australia,  the  mysteries  embody  the  inner  religious  life  of  the  tribe, 
pp.  95—98. — Subsequent  utilization  of  the  mysteries  for  grossly  selfish 
and  material  ends,  pp.  98,  99.  —  Examples  of  the  terrorism  practised 
upon  the  women  and  uninitiated  men:  in  Australia,  pp.  99,  100;  in 
Torres  Straits,  pp.  100,  loi  ;  in  New  Guinea  and  New  Pomerania, 
pp.  1 01-104.  — These  illustrations  show  that  the  strength  of  the  secret 


xii 


CONTENTS 


organizations  rests  largely  upon  the  pretended  association  of  their  mem- 
bers with  the  spirits  and  ghosts  of  the  dead,  pp.  104,  105. 

CHAPTER  VII 

Functions  of  Tribal  Societies 

Secret  societies  of  the  developed  type  may  often  provide  strong  intertribal 
bonds,  pp.  106,  107. — Their  connection  with  the  rising  power  of 
the  chiefs,  pp.  107—109. — Membership  in  the  tribal  society  carries 
with  it  many  privileges,  pp.  109,  iio.  — In  general  the  tribal  society 
represents  the  most  primitive  movement  towards  the  establishment  of 
law  and  order,  pp.  109,  iio.  — The  Dukduk  of  the  Bismarck  Archi- 
pelago as  an  excellent  example  of  the  operations  of  a  tribal  society, 
pp.  IIO— 114. — West  African  societies  often  effective  engines  of  gov- 
ernment, pp.  115— 118. — Use  of  the  secret  societies  to  maintain  mas- 
culine authority  over  the  women,  pp.  118— 120. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Decline  of  Tribal  Societies 

Why  developing  social  life  naturally  involves  the  decline  of  the  tribal  society, 
p.  121.  —  The  admission  of  women  characteristic  of  the  disintegration 
of  the  secret  rites,  pp.  121— 123. — The  steady  encroachment  of  mis- 
sionaries and  traders  often  brings  about  their  downfall,  pp.  123,  124. 

—  Where  the  societies  survive  they  tend  to  become  strongholds  of 
conservatism  and  of  opposition  to  all  foreign  influences,  pp.  124,  125. 

—  Decline  of  the  older  societies  sometimes  associated  with  rise  of 
numerous  smaller  and  more  temporary  organizations  devoted  to  special 
uses,  pp.  125—127.  — Survival  of  the  tribal  societies  as  pure  impostures, 
p.  127. — Their  occasional  development  into  social  clubs,  pp.  127— 
129. — The  Melanesian  Suqe,  pp.  129,  130.  —  Club-like  associations 
very  numerous  among  North  American  Indians,  pp.  130—134. 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  Clan  Ceremonies 

Tribal  secret  societies  have  frequently  developed  into  fraternities  of  priests 
and  shamans  charged  with  the  performance  of  magical  and  dramatic 
rites,  pp.  135,  136. — An  understanding  of  this  development  only 
possible  through  a  study  of  the  primitive  totemic  clan,  pp.  136,  137. 


CONTENTS 


xiii 


. —  Examination  of  the  Australian  evidence  exhibits  the  totemic  organiza- 
tion underlying  the  initiation  ceremonies,  pp.  137-140.  — In  Australia, 
also,  the  totem  groups  appear  as  dramatic  and  magical  corporations, 
pp.  140-143.  —  Confirmatory  evidence  from  Torres  Straits,  pp.  144— 
146.  — Much  additional  evidence  afforded  by  the  fraternities  of  North 
American  Indians,  p.  147.  —  Among  the  Northwest  tribes  the  clan 
organization  in  decay  and  secret  fraternities  in  initial  stages  of  develop- 
ment, pp.  147—152.  — Among  the  Plains  Indians  the  clan  organization 
persists  in  w^eakened  form  by  the  side  of  the  fraternities,  pp.  152—155. 
—  Among  the  tribes  of  the  South v^est  the  totemic  clans  have  broken 
dowrn  to  be  replaced  by  numerous  and  well-developed  magical  fraterni- 
ties, pp.  155-159- 

CHAPTER  X 

Magical  Fraternities 

Summary  of  the  argument  that  the  dramatic  and  magical  practices  connected 
with  primitive  totemic  groups  survive  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  secret 
societies,  pp.  160,  161. — Secret  magical  rites  among  the  natives  of 
New  Guinea  and  Torres  Straits,  pp.  161,  162.  —  Similar  rites  among 
the  Melanesian  Islanders,  pp.  162—164.  —  The  Areoi  society  of  Tahiti 
and  other  islands  in  the  Polynesian  area,  pp.  164—168. — The  Uritoi 
society  of  the  Carolines  and  Mariannes,  pp.  168—170. — The  New 
Zealand  Whare  Kura,  pp.  170,  171.  —  Magical  rites  of  African  secret 
societies,  p.  171.  —  Dramatic  performances  of  African  secret  societies, 
pp.  172,  173.  —  Connection  of  the  fetish  system  with  the  fraternities 
in  Africa,  pp.  173—176.  —  South  American  examples  of  magical  and 
dramatic  rites  of  a  secret  character,  pp.  176—178. — The  several 
aspects  of  North  American  fraternities  :  as  the  repositories  of  tribal 
tradition,  ritual,  and  religion,  pp.  178—179;  as  medicine  orders, 
pp.  179—182;  as  magical  organizations,  pp.  182,  183. — Illustrations 
of  the  survival  in  the  rites  of  Mandan,  Navajo,  Sia,  Zuni,  and  Hopi 
fraternities  of  primitive  puberty  rites,  pp.  183—189. — Conclusion, 
pp.  189,  190. 

CHAPTER  XI 

Diffusion  of  Initiation  Ceremonies 

Australia,  pp.  191-194. — Tasmania,  pp.  195,  196.  —  Melanesia,  pp.  196— 
202. — Polynesia,  pp.  202—206. — Africa,  pp.  206—211. — South 
America  and  Central  America,  pp.  212,  213. — North  America, 
213-221. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  men's  house 

The  separation  of  the  sexes  which  exists  in  civilized  so- 
cieties is  the  outcome,  in  part,  of  natural  distinctions  of  sex 
and  economic  function;  in  part  it  finds  an  explanation  in 
those  feelings  of  sexual  solidarity  to  which  we  owe  the 
existence  of  our  clubs  and  unions.  Sexual  solidarity  itself 
is  only  another  expression  for  the  working  of  that  uni- 
versal law  of  human  sympathy,  or  in  more  modern  phrase, 
of  consciousness  of  kind,  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all 
social  relations.  But  in  primitive  societies,  to  these  forces 
bringing  about  sexual  separation,  there  is  added  a  force  even 
more  potent,  which  originates  in  widespread  beliefs  as  to 
the  transmissibility  of  sexual  characteristics  from  one  in- 
dividual to  another.  Out  of  these  beliefs  have  arisen  many 
curious  and  interesting  taboos  designed  to  prevent  the  real 
or  imagined  dangers  incident  to  the  contact  of  the  sexes. 
Sexual  separation  is  further  secured  and  perpetuated  by 
the  institution  known  as  the  men's  house,  of  which  examples 
are  to  be  found  among  primitive  peoples  throughout  the 
world. 

The  men's  house  is  usually  the  largest  building  in  a  tribal 
settlement.  It  belongs  in  common  to  the  villagers;  it  serves 
as  council-chamber  and  town  hall,  as  a  guest-house  for 
strangers,  and  as  the  sleeping  resort  of  the  men.  Fre- 
quently seats  in  the  house  are  assigned  to  elders  and  other 
leading  individuals  according  to  their  dignity  and  importance. 
Here  the  more  precious  belongings  of  the  community,  such  as 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


trophies  taken  in  war  or  in  the  chase,  and  religious  emblems 
of  various  sorts  are  preserved.  Within  its  precincts,  women 
and  children,  and  men  not  fully  initiated  members  of  the 
tribe,  seldom  or  never  enter.  When  marriage  and  the 
exclusive  possession  of  a  woman  do  not  follow  immediately 
upon  initiation  into  the  tribe,  the  institution  of  the  men's 
house  becomes  an  effective  restraint  upon  the  sexual  pro- 
clivities of  the  unmarried  youth.  It  then  serves  as  a  club- 
house for  the  bachelors,  whose  residence  within  it  may  be 
regarded  as  a  perpetuation  of  that  formal  seclusion  of  the 
lads  from  the  women,  which  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  initiation 
ceremonies  in  the  first  place  to  accomplish.  Such  communal 
living  on  the  part  of  the  young  men  is  a  visible  token  of  their 
separation  from  the  narrow  circle  of  the  family,  and  of  their 
introduction  to  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  tribal  life. 
The  existence  of  such  an  institution  emphasizes  the  fact  that 
a  settled  family  life  with  a  private  abode  is  the  privilege  of 
the  older  men,  who  alone  have  marital  rights  over  the  women 
of  the  tribe.  For  promiscuity,  either  before  or  after  mar- 
riage, is  the  exception  among  primitive  peoples,  who  attempt 
not  only  to  regulate  by  complicated  and  rigorous  marriage 
systems  the  sexual  desires  of  those  who  are  competent  to 
marry,  but  actually  to  prevent  any  intercourse  at  all  of  those 
who  are  not  fully  initiated  members  of  the  community. 

An  institution  so  firmly  established  and  so  widely  spread 
may  be  expected  to  survive  by  devotion  to  other  uses,  as  the 
earlier  ideas  which  led  to  its  foundation  fade  away.  As 
guard  posts  where  the  young  men  are  confined  on  military 
duty  and  are  exercised  in  the  arts  of  war,  these  houses  often 
become  a  serviceable  means  of  defence.  The  religious  wor- 
ship of  the  community  frequently  centres  in  them.  Often 
they  form  the  theatre  of  dramatic  representations.  In  rare 
instances  these  institutions  seem  to  have  lost  their  original 
purpose  and  to  have  facilitated  sexual  communism  rather 
than  sexual  separation.  Among  some  tribes  the  men's 
house  is  used  as  the  centre  of  the  puberty  initiation  ceremonies. 
With  the  development  of  secret  societies,  replacing  the  earlier 
tribal  puberty  institutions,  the  men's  house  frequently  be- 
comes the  seat  of  these  organizations  and  forms  the  secret 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE 


3 


"lodge/^  The  presence  then  in  a  primitive  community  of 
the  men's  house  in  any  one  of  its  numerous  forms  points 
strongly  to  the  existence,  now,  or  in  the  past,  of  secret  initia- 
tion ceremonies. 

Austrahan  natives,  who  have  no  settled  abode,  present  the 
institution  in  its  rudest  form.  Among  the  Kurnai  in  south- 
eastern Victoria,  the  ''young  men  .  .  .  and  the  married 
men  who  have  not  their  wives  with  them,  always  encamp 
together  at  some  distance  from  the  camps  of  the  married 
men."  ^  The  bachelors' *camp  of  the  Euahlayi, 

a  tribe  in  the  northwestern  part  of  New  South  Wales,  was 
known  as  the  Weedegah  Gahreemai?  The  Ungunja  of 
the  Arunta  and  other  central  tribes  is  defined  by  Messrs. 
Spencer  and  Gillen  as  the  ''special  part  of  the  main  camp 
where  the  men  assemble  and  near  to  which  the  women  may 
not  go."  ^  The  large  JVurley  in  which  Port  Dar- 

win (Northern  Territory)  lads  live  during  their  initiatory 
seclusion,  has  obvious  resemblances  to  the  more  developed 
form  of  the  men's  house  found  in  New  Guinea.^ 

Men's  houses  are  numerous  in  New  Guinea.  At  Dorey 
Bay,  in  Dutch  New  Guinea,  we  find  the  Rumslam  "des 
maisons  sacrees,  sortes  de  temples  de  Venus  ou  habitent  les 
jeunes  gens  .  .  ."  ^  Similar  edifices  are  reported  at  Hum- 
boldt Bay.^  At  Berlin  Haven,  in  Kaiser  Wilhelm 
Land,  the  men's  house  has  differentiated  into  the  Parak^  or 
spirit-house,  and  the  Alol  which  serves  as  a  common  resort 


^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiv  (1885),  318  n.';  cf.  307.  The 
Tasmanian  custom  seems  to  have 
been  the  same.  We  are  told  that  the 
unmarried  grown  lads  slept  at  fires 
removed  from  the  famihes.'^  (Bon- 
wick,  Daily  Life  and  Origin  of  the 
Tasmanians,  11.) 

2  Mrs.   Parker,  Euahlayi  Tribe, 

61. 

^  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Aus- 
tralia, 656;  cf.  also  Northern  Tribes 
of  Central  Australia,  335;  Schulze 
in  Trans,  and  Proc.  and  Rep.  Roy. 
Soc.  South  Australia,  xiv  (1891), 
230-231 ;  Curr,  Australian  Race,  i,  71 ; 


Eyre,  Journals  of  Expeditions  of  Dis- 
covery into  Central  Australia,  ii,  302- 
304. 

^  Parkhouse  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc, 
Adv.  Sci.,  vi  (Sidney,  1895),  643. 

^  Raff  ray  in  Soc.  Geogr.,^\xth. 
series,  xv  (1878),  393.  Cf.  also  van 
Hasselt  in  Zeits.f.  Ethnol.,  viii  (1876), 
197;  Reise  der  Osterreichischen  Fre- 
gatte  Novarra  um  der  Erde.  Anthro- 
pologischer  Theil  (Wien,  1868),  17; 
F.  H.  H.  Guillemard,  The  Cruise  of 
the  Marchesa  to  Kamschatka  and  New 
Guinea  (London,  1886),  ii,  281-282. 

^  Otto  Finsch,  Samoafahrten 
(Leipzig,  1888),  356. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


of  the  men  and  as  a  bachelor's  club-house.^  At  Finsch 
Haven  the  original  meaning  of  the  word  barium  seems  to 
have  been  that  of  a  house  set  apart  for  certain  purposes;  a 
Lum  is  a  guest-house  found  in  every  larger  village.  A  Bar- 
ium is  a  greater  house.  The  w^ord  now  has  come  to  signify 
the  ceremonies  of  initiation  as  well  as  the  mysterious  spirit 
supposed  to  preside  over  them.  The  bull-roarer  employed 
in  the  ceremonies  is  called  by  the  natives  ''the  roar  of  the 
Barium''  ^  In  the  Constantine  Haven  district  we  find  the 
Buambramha,^  and  at  Astrolabe  Bay,  the  Bantje}  At  Bo- 
gadjim,  a  village  in  this  region,  the  men's  house  is  on  its 
way  toward  becoming  the  centre  of  the  initiation  rites. ^  In 
the  D'Entrecasteaux  Islands  every  village  has  its  house  which 
serves  as  a  gathering  place  for  the  men.^  In  British 

New  Guinea  we  find  the  Eramos  {ElamoSy  Erabosy  Eravos)^ 
M  areas  J  and  DubusJ  ''The  fully  initiated  native  regards 
his  Eravo  as  his  alma  mater;  all  he  knows  of  the  past  his- 
tory of  his  tribe;  his  knowledge  of  his  duties  and  obliga- 
tions to  his  tribe  and  community;  his  contempt  and  dislike 
for  all  and  everything  opposed  to  the  interests  of  his  tribe 
and  community;  in  brief,  all  that  he  is  he  owes  to  his  Eravoy 
and  the  teaching  he  received  in  it  during  his  initiation  will 
dominate  his  actions  through  life."  ^  Of  these  structures  the 
Dubu  found  along  the  southern  coast  east  of  Port  Moresby, 
is  the  simplest  form.  It  is  merely  a  large  open-air,  four- 
cornered  platform  supported  by  carved  posts.  The  Marea 
of  the  Mekeo  district  and  the  Eramo  of  the  Gulf  tribes  are 
decorated   houses  of  much  more  elaborate  construction. 


^  Parkinson  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.,  xiii  (1900),  33-35- 

^  Schellong  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.,  ii  (1889),  ^47j  i5i- 

^  Finsch,  op.  cit.,  47-48. 

^  Baessler,  Sudsee-Bilder ,  73 ;  Hoff- 
mann in  Nachrichten  iiber  Kaiser 
Wilhelms-Land  und  den  Bismarck- 
Archipely  xiv  (1898),  72-73;  Finsch, 
op.  cit.,  74-75;  Lauterbach  in  Zeits. 
d.  Gesells.  f,  Erdkunde,  xxxiii  (1898), 
148. 

^  Hagen,  Unter  den  Papuans,  200. 
®  Finsch  in  Annalen  des  k,  k. 


Naturhistorischen  Hofsmuseums,  vi 
(Wien,  1891),  24. 

^  Seligmann  in  Rep.  Brit.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.j  Ixix  (1899),  59^5  Mac- 
Gregor  in  Scottish  Geogr.  Mag.,  xi 
(1895),  164;  Chalmers  and  Gill, 
Work  and  Adventure  in  New  Guinea, 
185;  L.  M.  D'Albertis,  iV^2£;  Guinea 
(London,  1880),  i,  318-320;  Haddon 
in  Geogr.  Jour.,  xvi  (1900),  424-425; 
Finsch  in  Mitth.  Anthrop.  Gesells. 
in  Wien,  xvii  (1887),  1-15;  Chal- 
mers, Pioneering  in  New  Guinea,  180. 

^  Holmes  in  Man,  v  (1905),  3-4. 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE 


5 


Several  of  these  structures  occupied  by  the  different  clans 
are  found  in  every  village  of  the  Motumotuan  tribe. ^  Boys 
undergoing  initiation  are  confined  in  the  upper  story  of  such 
buildings.  When  an  Eramo  is  built  some  human  life  must 
be  sacrificed,  else  the  boys  will  not  become  strong  and  brave 
fighting  men.^  West  of  the  Yule  Island,  among  both  the 
coast  and  interior  tribes,  the  men's  house  disappears  in  the 
large  communal  houses  inhabited  by  the  men  and  the  smaller 
houses  where  the  women  live.^  In  certain  other  districts 
farther  to  the  west,  as  at  Daudai  and  on  the  Fly  River, 
these  houses  are  large  enough  to  accommodate  many  families. 
Sexual  separation  is  still  preserved,  however,  by  the  practice 
of  keeping  the  end  rooms  as  the  club  apartments  of  the  men, 
the  women  and  children  entering  their  rooms  by  the  side 
doors. ^  Such  houses  are  obviously  a  close  approach  to 
the  communal  dwellings  found  among  the  aborigines  of 
Borneo. 

Throughout  the  Melanesian  area  the  men's  house  is  met 
under  various  names  in  the  different  islands.  The  so-called 
"temples"  found  in  the  Admiralty  group  are  one  form  of 
this  widely  prevalent  institution.^  In  New  Pome- 

rania,  the  large  assembly  houses  for  all  the  men  appear 
to  be  absent;  the  men's  house  is  here  chiefly  the  resort  of 
the  bachelors.^  Among  the  Sulka  of  New  Pomerania  cir- 
cumcision takes  place  in  the  men's  house,  or  A  ISfgaulaJ  In 
the  Gazelle  Peninsula  the  men's  house  is  called  Palnatarei.^ 
In  New  Mecklenburg,  the  club-houses  are  also  used  for  the 
reception  of  guests.^  The  Tohes  of  Santa  Anna, 

St.  Christoval,  and  neighboring  islands  of  the  Solomon 
group  are  of  great  size  and  beauty.    In  them  the  natives 


*  Haddon  in  Science  Progress,  ii 
(1894),  85-86. 

^  Edelfeldt,  quoted  in  Amer.  An- 
thropologist, V  (1892),  288. 

^  MacGregor,  British  New  Guinea^ 

85. 

^  Haddon  in  Geogr.  Jour.,  xvi 
(1900),  421. 

^  Birgham  in  Globus,  xxxi  (1897), 
202. 


^  Finsch  in  Annalen  des  k.  k. 
Naturhistorischen  Hofsmuseums,  iii 
(Wien,  1888),  100. 

^  Rascher  in  Archiv  f.  Anthrop., 
xxix  (1904),  212-213. 

^  Hahl  in  Nachrichten  ilber  Kaiser 
Wilhelms-Land  und  den  Bismarck- 
Archipel.,  xiii  (1897),  70. 

^  Finsch,  op.  cit.,  130. 


6  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


keep  their  war  canoes.  Such  houses  serve  also  as  sanc- 
tuaries; blood  is  rarely  shed  within  their  precincts.  In  the 
Tohes  are  preserved  the  bones  of  the  chiefs  and  great  war- 
riors as  well  as  the  skulls  of  ordinary  men.  Boys  at  puberty 
are  confined  in  these  houses  for  a  year  or  more  until  initiation 
is  completed.^  At  Alu  and  Treasury  Island  in  Bougain- 
ville Straits  the  Tohe  is  represented  by  a  mere  open  canoe 
shed  almost  destitute  of  ornament  and  apparently  held  in 
little   veneration.^  In   the   eastern   islands  of 

the  Melanesian  Archipelago  we  find  the  Madai  of  the  Santa 
Cruz  group,^  the  Gamal  of  the  Torres  Islands,  Banks 
Islands,  and  Northern  New  Hebrides,^  the  Imeium  of 
Tanna  and  the  Simanlo  of  Erromanga,  islands  of  the  South- 
ern New  Hebrides.^  In  the  Banks  Islands  when  a  boy 
passes  out  of  childhood  he  is  sent  to  sleep  in  the  Gamaly 
his  parents  saying,  "He  is  a  boy;  it  is  time  to  separate  him 
from  the  girls.''  ^  In  all  the  islands  of  this  region  the  men's 
house  appears  as  a  club-house  for  which  preliminary  pay- 
ments at  entrance  and  additional  payments  at  later  periods 
are  required.  Thus  at  Meli,  one  of  the  New  Hebrides, 
the  men  prepare  all  their  food  in  their  own  club-house  which 
is  of  course  tabooed  to  women.  Anything  that  a  woman 
cooks  would  be  considered  unclean.  Only  in  childhood 
does  a  boy  eat  with  his  mother.^  In  the  Loyalty 

Islands,  bachelors'  establishments  are  common,^  and  they 
are  probably  to  be  found  in  New  Caledonia.^ 

In  every  inhabited  island  of  Torres  Straits  "there  was  a 
certain  area  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the  men  which  was 
known  as  a  Kwod,'^    Some  islands  appear  to  have  had  one 


^  Gaggin,  Among  the  Man-Eaters , 
159-161,  212-213;  Guppy,  The 
Solomon  Islands  and  their  Natives, 
53,  67-71 ;  Hagen  in  Tour  du  Monde, 
Ixv  (1893),  375;  Woodford  in  Proc. 
Roy.  Geogr.  Soc,  new  series,  x  (1888), 
372;  Elton  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xvii  (1887),  97;  C.  F.  Wood,  A 
Yachting  Cruise  in  the  South  Seas 
(London,  1875),  118-121. 

^  Guppy,  op.  cit.,  71. 

^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  102. 


*  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  loi;  Gaggin, 
op.  cit.,  93;  Coote,  The  Western 
Pacific  (London,  1883),  64;  Baessler, 
Sudsee-Bilder,  203. 

^  Gray  in  Intern.  Archiv  f.  Eth- 
nogr.,  vii  (1894),  230;  H.  A.  Robert- 
son, Erromanga,  the  Martyr  Isle,  375. 

^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  231. 

'  Baessler,  Sudsee-Bilder,  203. 

^  Ella  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv, 
Sci.,  iv  (Sidney,  1893),  625. 

^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  loi. 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE 


7 


only;  others  had  several.^  The  term  kwod  was  also  applied 
to  the  village  houses  for  the  reception  of  visitors.  The 
institution  of  the  Kwod  "  lent  itself  to  prolonged  intercourse, 
as  v^e  may  safely  regard  each  Kwod  as  being  the  real  centre 
of  the  public  life  of  individual  communities/'  ^  No  v^oman 
or  girl  "might  visit  a  Kwody  boy-children  might  go,  but  not 
when  a  ceremony  was  taking  place.  After  initiation  the 
young  men  could  frequent  the  Kwod  and  they  habitually 
slept  there  and  they  had  to  look  after  the  place,  keep  it  in 
order,  fetch  water,  collect  firewood,  attend  to  the  fires,  and, 
in  fact,  to  do  whatever  the  elder  men  required  of  them.  If 
the  elder  men  went  out  to  fish  or  to  harpoon  dugong  or  turtle 
and  had  good  luck,  they  would  probably  bring  some  fish 
or  meat  to  the  Kwodj  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  young  men 
to  cook  it.  Grey-headed  men  talked  and  discussed  about 
fighting,  dancing,  taiy  augud^  women,  and  other  matters  of 
interest.  The  young  men  sat  still  and  learnt  from  the  old 
men,  as  my  informant  said,  St  was  like  a  school.'"^ 

The  men's  house  in  one  or  more  of  its  numerous  forms  is 
found  among  many  Borneo  tribes.^  The  Pangah^  or  head- 
house,  of  the  Land  Dyaks  of  Sarawak  serves  both  as  the 
abode  of  the  unmarried  men  and  as  the  place  of  reception 
for  guests.^  The  long  houses  of  the  Sea  Dyaks 

contain  an  entire  village  community  settled,  primarily  for 
safety,  in  one  building.  Such  houses  "are  really  villages 
of  a  single  street,  the  veranda  being  a  public  thoroughfare, 
unobstructed  throughout  its  whole  length,  in  front  of  the 
private  family  rooms."  ^  This  veranda,  or  Ruat,  is  the  sole 
survival  of  the  men's  house.    Here  all  male  visitors  are 


^  Haddon  in  Reports  of  the  Cam- 
bridge Anthropological  Expedition  to 
Torres  Straits ,  v,  3. 

^  Ihid.,  263-264.    ^  Ihid.^  365-366. 

^  Forrest,  A  Voyage  to  New 
Guinea  and  the  Moluccas  (Dublin, 
1779),  102;  ^oy\^j  Adventures  among 
the  Dyaks  of  Borneo  (London,  1865), 
63 ;  Wallace,  The  Malay  Archipelago, 
i,  103;  Bock,  The  Head-Hunters  of 
Borneo  J  197;  Yule,  in  Jour.  An- 
throp.  Inst.,  ix  (1880),  296. 


^  Roth,  Natives  of  Sarawak  and 
British  North  Borneo,  ii,  156;  Col- 
lingwood,  Rambles  of  a  Naturalist, 
237-240;  Spencer  St.  John,  Life  in 
the  Forests  of  the  Far  East,  i,  139, 
167;  Sir  Hugh  Low,  Sarawak  (Lon- 
don, 1848),  280;  A.  R.  Hein,  Die 
Bildenden  Kunste  bei  den  Dayaks  auf 
Borneo  (Wien,  1890),  15,  216. 

^  Furness,  Home  Life  of  Borneo 
Head-Hunters,  2. 


8  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


invariably  received  and  here  at  night  they  sleep  with  the 
boys  and  bachelors/ 

The  existence  of  the  men's  house  is  disclosed  in  many  of 
the  East  Indian  islands.  Among  the  Battaks  of  Sumatra 
the  institution  is  known  as  the  Baleiy  or  town  hall,^  the 
Djamboery^  and  the  Sopo,  In  the  districts  where  the  Sopos 
are  found  they  are  open  to  the  women  who  sit  in  them  and 
ply  their  daily  tasks  of  weaving.^  "La  notte  vi  dormono  i 
giovanotti  non  ammogliati  e  siccome  le  donne  non  maritate 
non  devono  dormire  a  casa  loro,  ma  presso  qualche  vecchia 
vedova  che  le  ospita  tutte,  non  e  raro  che  quel  chaperon 
poco  severo  le  accompagni  nel  Sopo  per  conversare  coi  loro 
giovani  amici.'^  ^  At  Nias,  an  island  off  the  western 

coast  of  Sumatra,  the  Osale  is  "la  sala  delle  adunanze,  ove  si 
riuniscono  col  Capo  i  piu  vecchi  guerrieri  per  discutere 
questioni  che  interessano  I'intero  villaggio,  come  il  dichiarar 
guerra,  concludere  la  pace  ed  amministrare  la  giustizia."  ^ 
The  "guest-house"  of  the  Mentawai  group,  south  of  Nias, 
is  used  for  similar  purposes.^  In  the  central  parts 

of  Celebes,  the  men's  house  is  known  as  the  Loho,^  In 
many  islands  of  the  Banda  Sea  such  as  Flores,  Letti,  and 
Timorlaut,  we  meet  with  the  same  institution.  In  Flores  it 
is  called  Romaluli^^  in  the  Kei  Islands,  Roemah  kompani^^^ 
in  Timor,  Umalulik}^  In  Ceram,  the  Baleuw,  or 

men's  house,  is  employed  as  the  secret  lodge  of  the  powerful 


^  Roth,  op.  cit.j  ii,  12;  Henry 
Keppel,  The  Expedition  to  Borneo  of 
H,M.S.  Dido  (New  York,  1846),  33. 

^  Marsden,  History  of  Sumatra 
(London,  181 1),  56,  266-267;  Von 
Hligel  in  Geogr.  Jour.,  vii  (1896), 
177;  Emil  and  Lenore  Selenka,  Son- 
nige  Welten,  308,  337;  Giesenhagen, 
Auf  Java  und  Sumatra,  219,  226-227 ; 
Julius  Jacobs,  Het  Famil'ie-en  Kam- 
pong-leven  op  Groot-Atjeh  (Leiden, 
1894),  i,  74-75.     ^  . 

^  Westenberg  in  Tijds.  k.  n. 
Aardrijks. -Gemots.,  second  series, 
xiv  (1897),  10. 

^  Kodding  in  Globus,  liii  (1888), 
76;  Schreiber  in  Ausland,  Iv  (1882), 


162;  Volz  in  Tijds.  k.  n.  Aardrijks.- 
Genoots.,  second  series,  xvi  (1899), 
432. 

^  Modigliani,  Fra  i  Batacchi  In- 
dipendenti,  28. 

^  Id.,  tin  Viaggio  a  Nias,  209. 

^  Maass,  Bei  liebenwUrdigen  Wil- 
den,  104  sq. 

^  Paul  and  Fritz  Sarasin  in  Zeits. 
d.  Gesells.  f.  Erdkunde,  xxix  (1894), 
332. 

^  Jacobsen,  Reise  in  die  Inselwelt 
des  Banda-Meeres,  46,  140,  213. 

Plantin  in  Globus,  Ixii  (1892), 

316. 

Forbes  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1883),  411-412. 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE  9 

Kakian  organization.  The  rites  of  the  society  take  place 
in  an  enclosed  part  of  the  structure  hidden  from  the  gaze  of 
the  uninitiated.^  In  each  village  of  Formosa  there 

are  one  or  more  PalangkanSy  large  enough  to  hold  all  the 
boys  who  have  reached  the  age  of  puberty  and  are  still  un- 
married. In  the  PalangkanSy  also,  various  public  matters  are 
discussed  by  the  village  elders.  As  public  caravanserais, 
they  are  often  open  to  all  visitors.^ 

The  men's  house  exists  among  the  less  civilized  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Philippine  Archipelago.  The  Igorot,  v^ho 
dwell  in  the  mountains  of  northern  Luzon,  possess  the  in- 
stitution in  a  double  form.  The  Pahafunan  "is  the  man's 
club  by  day,  and  the  unmarried  man's  dormitory  by  night, 
and,  as  such,  it  is  the  social  centre  for  all  men  of  the  A  to 
[political  division],  and  it  harbors  at  night  all  men  visiting 
from  other  pueblos."  ^  In  addition  there  is  the  Fawi,  or 
council-house,  which  is  more  frequented  by  the  older  than 
by  the  younger  men.  In  some  cases  the  two  structures 
are  under  the  same  roof.^ 

Common  to  all  the  Dravidian  tribes  of  India  is  the  hab- 
itation called  among  the  Oraons,  Dhumkuria^  in  which 
the  bachelors  reside.  In  some  of  the  villages  the  young 
unmarried  women  have  a  separate  building  of  their  own  like 
the  Dhumkuriaj  where  they  sleep  under  the  guardianship 
of  elderly  women.  In  other  villages  the  women  sleep  in 
the  bachelors'  houses.  "The  Dhumkuria  fraternity  are 
under  the  severest  penalties  bound  down  to  secrecy  in  regard 
to  all  that  takes  place  in  their  dormitory;  and  even  girls 
are  punished  if  they  dare  to  tell  tales.  They  are  not  allowed 
to  join  in  the  dances  till  the  offence  is  condoned.  They 
have  a  regular  system  of  fagging  in  this  curious  institution. 
The  small  boys  serve  those  of  larger  growth,  shampoo  their 
limbs,  and  comb  their  hair,  etc.,  and  they  are  sometimes 
subjected  to  severe  discipline  to  make  men  of  them."  ^ 


^  Prochnik  in  Mitth.  k.  k.  Geogr. 
Gesells.  in  Wien,  xxxv  (1892) ,  596-597. 

^  Taylor  in  Proc.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc.j 
new  series,  xi  (1889),  231;  Kisak 
Tamai  in  Globus,  Ixx  (1896),  96. 

^  Jenks,  ^^The  Bontoc  Igorol''  in 


Ethnographical  Survey  of  the  Philip- 
pines, i  (Manila,  1905),  51. 
^  Ibid.,  52. 

^  E.  T,  Dalton,  Descriptive  Eth- 
nology of  Bengal  (Calcutta,  1872), 
248.    See  also  272. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Among  the  various  primitive  tribes  of  Indonesian  type 
occupying  mountainous  districts  of  further  India,  the 
men's  house  flourishes  to-day  chiefly  as  a  guard-house 
where  the  young  men  Hve  in  a  semi-miHtary  organization. 
^'I  could  not  find,"  writes  one  observer  of  the  Nagas  of 
eastern  Assam,  "that  there  was  any  initiation  when  boys 
first  left  their  parents'  homes  and  slept  at  the  Morang;  it 
seemed  to  be  a  civil  rather  than  a  social  institution."  ^ 
Among  the  Kolya  Nagas  the  young  married  men  are  to- 
gether with  the  bachelors  in  the  club-houses.^  In  addition 
to  the  separate  sleeping  quarters  which  the  Angami,  or 
Western  Nagas,  provide  for  their  young  men,  there  are 
platforms  in  the  centre  of  every  village,  where  the  old  men 
and  the  young  men  meet  separately  for  their  tribal  discus- 
sions. The  decision  of  the  elders  usually  prevails.^  Among 
the  Abors  the  village  notables  meet  daily  in  the  Morang  for 
discussion  of  a^Fairs  of  state.  ''The  most  important  and 
the  most  trivial  matters  are  there  discussed.  Apparently 
nothing  is  done  without  a  consultation,  and  an  order  of  the 
citizens  in  Morang  assembled  is  issued  daily  regulating  the 
day's    work."  ^  Similar    institutions    are  found 

among  the  Mois  and  Khas  of  Siam,^  and  among  various 
tribes  of  Anam,^  and  Cambodia.^ 

Some  form  of  the  men's  house  appears  to  be  widely  ex- 
tended throughout  both  Micronesia  and  Polynesia.^  In 


^  Furness  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  454.  See  also  Peal  in 
Jour.  Roy.  Asiatic  Soc.  of  Bengal,  lii, 
part  ii  (1883),  16-17. 

^  Watt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xvi  (1887),  358. 

^  Prain  in  Revue  Coloniale  Inter- 
nationale, V  (1887),  480,  491. 

^  Dalton,  op.  cit.,  24.  See  also 
for  further  descriptions  Schlagintweit 
in  Globus,  xxxiv  (1878),  264;  Brown- 
low  in  Proc.  Asiatic  Soc.  of  Bengal 
(January,  1874),  17-18,  and  plate  ii; 
Needham  in  Proc.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc, 
new  series,  viii  (1886),  317;  Miss 
Godden  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxvi  (1896),  179-192;  and  the  paper 


by  S.  E.  Peal,  ^^On  the  Morong  as 
possibly  a  Relic  of  Pre-marriage 
Communism,"  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxii  (1893),  248-249. 

^  Bonin  in  Bull.  Soc.  Geogr., 
seventh  series,  xvii  (Paris,  1896), 
112;  Bel,  ibid.,  xix  (1898),  270. 

®  Cupet  in  Tour  du  Monde,  Ixv 
(1893),  200-207,  216,  218;  Lemire  in 
Revue  d^  Ethnographic,  viii  (1889), 
282-283. 

'  Aymonier,  Le  Cambodge  (Paris, 
1900),  i,  32. 

^  For  examples  from  the  Pelew 
Islands,  the  Carolines,  and  the  La- 
drones,  see  infra,  pp.  168-170. 


THE  MEN^S  HOUSE  ii 

the  Polynesian  area  the  men's  house  is  largely  a  social  and 
religious  institution,  often  under  the  direct  control  of  the 
chiefs  and  leading  families.  Many  illustrations  are  found 
in  the  Maniapa  of  the  Gilbert  Islands,  the  council-house  of 
the  men  where  every  noble  family  had  its  own  seat  along 
the  sides  of  the  structure,^  in  the  Heiau  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,^  the  Malai  of  the  Tonga  group,^  and  in  the  struc- 
tures generally  called  Maraes  or  Marais^  found  in  the  Austral 
or  Tubuai  group,^  the  Union  group,^  the  Society  Islands,^ 
the  Navigator  and  Friendly  Islands,^  at  Penrhyn  Island,^ 
and  at  Fanning  Island.^  At  Nine  or  Savage  Island,  the 
Tutu  where  chiefs  sat  in  council  with  the  king  was  a  struc- 
ture similar  to  the  Marais}^  The  Mara  or  Morot  of  the 
Marquesas  Islands,  also  served  as  a  temporary  resting-place 
for  the  bodies  of  deceased  chiefs. In  the  Hervey  group, 
at  convenient  intervals,  the  king  as  high  priest  of  all  the 
gods,  summoned  the  young  people  to  their  various  family 
Maraes  to  be  publicly  "named."  In  Samoa, 

the  annual  feasts  in  honor  of  the  gods  were  celebrated  in  the 
central  Maraes  of  the  villages. The  Faletehy  or  spirit- 
houses,  of  the  Samoan  villages  were  generally  placed  in  the 
principal  Maraes,    Here  the  young  men  slept  by  themselves 


^  Hale  in  United  States  Exploring 
Expedition  J  vii  (Philadelphia,  1846), 
loi ;  Meinicke,  Die  Inseln  des  Stillen 
Oceans,  ii,  335. 

^  William  Ellis,  Narrative  of  a 
Tour  through  Hawaii  or  Owhyhee 
(London,  1827),  52,  81-85,  248; 
Moseley,  Notes  by  a  Naturalist,  439; 
Bastian,  Zur  Kenntniss  Hawaii's, 
34. 

^  Mariner,  An  Account  of  the 
Natives  of  the  Tonga  Islands  (Edin- 
burgh, 1827),  i,  91-92  n.  Cf.  also 
Basil  Thompson,  The  Diversions  of 
a  Prime  Minister  (Edinburgh,  1894), 

300.  379- 

'  Globus,  Iv  (1886),  68. 

^  Hale,  op.  cit.,  vii,  157. 

^  Baessler,  Neue  SUdsee-Bilder, 
111-148. 

'  Hale,  op.  cit.,  26. 


^  Smith  in  Trans,  and  Proc.  New 
Zealand  Inst.,  xxii  (1889),  92. 

^  R.  F.  de  Tolna,  Chez  les  Can- 
nibales  (Paris,  1903),  39. 

Smith  in  Jour.  Polynesian  Soc, 
xi  (1902),  174. 

Lamont,  Wild  Life  among  the 
Pacific  Islanders  (London,  1867), 
120-122,  275;  G.  H.  von  Langsdorff, 
Voyages  and  Travels  in  Various  Parts 
of  the  World  (London,  18 13),  i, 
134;  Baessler,  Neue  Sudsee-Bilder , 
219. 

Gill,  Myths  and  Songs  from 
the  South  Pacific,  38;  see  also 
S.  P.  Smith,  ^'Arai-Te-Tonga,  the 
Ancient  Marae  at  Rarotonga,''  in 
Jour.  Polynesian  Soc,  xii  (1903), 
218-220. 

Stair  in  Jour.  Polynesian  Soc, 
V  (1896),  54;  George  Turner,  Nine- 


12  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

and  received  the  visitors  to  the  community.^  In 
the  Fiji  Islands,  at  least  two  Bur es-ni-sa^  or  strangers'  houses, 
were  found  in  every  village.  In  them  all  the  male  popu- 
lation passed  the  night.  "The  v^omen  and  girls  sleep  at 
home;  and  it  is  quite  against  Fijian  etiquette  for  a  husband 
to  take  his  night's  repose  anywhere  except  at  one  of  the  public 
bures  of  his  town  or  village,  though  he  will  go  to  his  family 
soon^ after  dawn.''  ^  In  New  Zealand  the  Marae 

survived  as  the  courtyard  in  front  of  the  large  assembly 
houses  where  dances  or  meetings  were  held  and  speeches 
were  made.^ 

Africa  yields  sufficient  evidence  to  indicate  the  existence 
of  the  men's  house  throughout  that  continent.  Basutos 
boys,  until  marriage,  live  in  a  common  house  and  are  con- 
sidered at  the  public  service.^  In  the  Khotla  of  the  Bech- 
uanas,  the  tribesmen  meet  in  general  assembly  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  matters  of  common  interest.  The  Khotla  also 
serves  as  the  audience  room  of  the  chiefs.^  Adjoining  the 
structure  is  the  chamber  where  initiation  ceremonies  take 
place. ^  After  initiation  and  until  their  marriage,  the  young 
men  remain  in  the  Khotla  on  guard-post  duty.^  The  Tondo 
of  the  Bawenda,  a  Transvaal  tribe,  serves  as  a  resort  for  the 
young  men  and  as  a  watch-house  for  the  town  guard. ^ 


teen  Years  in  Polynesia  (London, 
1861),  288;  id.,  Samoa,  93,  181. 

^  Stair,  Old  Samoa,  84,  109-110, 
129;  id.  in  Jour.  Polynesian  Soc,  iii 
(1894),  240;  V  (1896),  45. 

^  Seemann,  Viti  (London,  1862), 
no.  See  also,  Williams  and  Calvert, 
Fiji  and  the  Fijians,  132;  Wilkes, 
Narrative  of  the  United  States  Ex- 
ploring Expedition  (Philadelphia, 
1845),  86. 

^  A.  Hamilton,  Maori  Art  (Wel- 
lington, 1896),  73.  The  New  Zea- 
land men's  house  appears  to  have 
developed  into  a  number  of  separate 
institutions.  Every  important  Maori 
village  contained  several  houses  spe- 
cially built  for  various  purposes.  The 
Whare  Maire  or  Whare  Takiura  was 
a  sacred  house  for  teaching  the  an- 


cient history,  genealogies,  and  religion 
of  the  people.  In  the  Whare  Mata, 
the  manufacture  of  traps  and  snares 
was  carried  on.  The  Whare  Taper e 
was  the  place  where  the  village  young 
people  met  at  night  for  games,  Best 
in  Trans,  and  Proc.  New  Zealand 
Inst.,  xxxi  (1898),  626;  Hamilton, 
op.  cit.,  96;  H.  G.  Robley,  Moko; 
or  Maori  Tattooing  (London,  1896), 
118. 

^  CasaKs,  Les  Bassoutos,  281. 

^  Fritsch,  Die  Eingehorenen  Siid- 
Afrika^s,  194,  208. 

^  James  Chapman,  Travels  in  the 
Interior  of  South  Africa  (London, 
1868),  i,  44. 

^  Fritsch,  op.  cit.,  208. 

^  Gottschling  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  XXXV  (1905),  369,  372. 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE 


13 


Among  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  Bondei  country  (German 
East  Africa)  all  the  bachelors  and  the  boys  who  are  too 
old  to  remain  at  home  occupy  the  Bweni.  Such  persons 
are  not  regarded  as  members  of  the  tribe,  at  least 
so  far  as  to  assume  all  the  tribal  obligations.^  The 
Houbo  of  the  Ba-Ronga  of  Delagoa  Bay  is  described  as 
^Ma  place  publique  sur  laquelle  les  hommes  se  reunissent 
pour  jouer,  pour  causer,  ou  pour  discuter  de  leurs 
affaires."  ^  Among  the  Unyamwesi  east  of  llake 

Tanganyika,  there  are  usually  two  IwanzaSy  or  club-houses, 
in  every  village.  "As  soon  as  a  boy  attains  the  age  of 
seven  or  eight  years,  he  throws  off  the  authority  of  his 
mother,  and  passes  most  of  his  time  at  the  club,  usually 
eating,  and  often  sleeping  there.'' ^  The  Iwanza  was  "a 
long  room,  twelve  by  eighteen  feet,  with  one  door,  a 
low  flat  roof,  well  blackened  with  smoke,  and  no  chim- 
ney. Along  its  length  there  ran  a  high  inclined  bench, 
on  which  cow-skins  were  spread  for  men  to  take  their 
siesta.  Some  huge  drums  were  hung  in  one  corner,  and 
logs  smouldered  on  the  ground.  The  young  men  of  the 
village  gathered  at  the  club-house  to  get  the  news.  .  .  . 
Dances  would  take  place  in  the  space  in  front  of  it,  either 
by  day  or  night."  ^  Masai  boys,  after  circumcision,  live 
for  a  number  of  years  in  the  Kraal  of  the  unmarried  men.^ 
The  men's  house  is  found  in  the  Congo  Free  State 
among  the  East  Manyema  ^  and  Mogwandi,^  among  the 
Wapokomo  of  British  East  Africa,^  the  Yaunde  and 
other  tribes  of  Kamerun,^  the  Fang  of  French  Congo,^^ 


^  Dale  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxv 
(1896),  196-197. 

^  Junod,  Les  Ba-Ronga,  104. 

^  V.  L.  Cameron,  Across  Africa,  i, 
181;  see  also  Burton,  Lake  Regions 
of  Central  Africa,  i,  354;  ii,  27-28, 
279,  285. 

'  J.  A.  Grant,  A  Walk  Across 
Africa,  65-66. 

^  Joseph  Thomson,  Through 
Masai  Land,  248. 

*  Stanley,  Through  the  Dark  Con- 
tinent, ii,  82. 


^  Thonner,  Im  Afrikanischen  Ur- 
wald,  71. 

^  Denhardt  in  Petermanns  Mit- 
teilungen,  xxvii  (1881),  18. 

^  Zenker  in  Mitth.  v.  Forschungs- 
reisenden  und  Gelehrten  aus  den 
Deutschen  Schutzgehieten,  iv  (1891), 
139;  viii(i895),39,  56;  Tappenbeck, 
ihid.,  i  (1888),  1 15- 1 16;  Contau, 
ibid.,  xii  (1899),  202;  Dominik, 
Kamerun,  55. 

Bennett  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.y 
xxix  (1899),  70-71,  79. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


and  the  Mandingoes  of  Western  Soudan.^  Some 
interesting  survivals  among  the  Mohammedan  tribes  of 
northern  Africa  should  be  noticed.  In  Wadai,  separate 
dwellings  are  provided  for  the  elders  {Dschemma)y  the 
middle-aged  men,  and  for  the  youths.  In  these  resorts 
the  men  sit  from  morning  till  night  and  here  they  take  their 
meals. ^  The  Djemaa  of  the  Kabyles  of  Algeria  is  the  gen- 
eral assembly  of  the  citizens  in  which  all  the  men  who  have 
reached  their  majority  take  part.  The  term  is  also  applied 
to  the  public  building  where  their  meetings  are  held.^ 
Among  the  Djebala  of  Morocco,  the  name  Djemaa  is  ap- 
plied to  the  organization  of  the  elders  who  form  the  govern- 
ing body  of  the  tribe;  the  men's  house  is  called  Bett-ef- 
^ohfa,  "Tout  ce  beau  monde  se  reunit  dans  chaque  village 
au  Beit-e^-fohfay  sorte  de  maison  commune  ou  ont  enfermees 
les  armes  et  les  munitions  du  village  et  qui  est  en  meme 
temps  le  theatre  d'orgies  effrenees."  ^ 

Among  the  Bororo,  an  aboriginal  tribe  of  Brazil,  the 
BaitOj  or  men's  house,  is  the  central  feature  of  their  existence. 
The  family  huts  serve  for  little  more  than  as  the  resorts  of 
the  women  and  children  and  of  the  older  warriors  and 
hunters.  The  associated  men  are  called  J  roe,  "Der 
Stamm  macht  den  Eindruck  eines  aus  Jagern  zusammen- 
gesetzen  Mannergesangvereins,  dessen  Mitglieder  sich  ver- 
pflichten,  solange  sie  nicht  etwa  40  Jahre  alt  sind,  nicht  zu 
heiraten  sondern  in  ihrem  Klubhaus  mit  einander  zu 
leben.''  ^  Among  the  Kulisehu,  a  neighboring  tribe  which 
has  developed  an  agricultural  life,  the  organization  of  the 
younger  men  in  the  A  roe  is  of  far  less  importance;  family 
life  is  customary  and  the  A  roe  is  prominent  chiefly  as  a 
dancing  organization.^    Many  other  Brazilian  tribes  have 


^  Park,  Travels,  i,  59. 

^  Nachtigal,  Sahara  und  Sudan, 
iii,  244-246. 

^  Hanoteau  and  Letourneux,  Le 
Kahylie  et  les  Coutumes  Kabyles,  ii, 
20-21;  Randall-Maciver  and  Wilkin, 
Libyan  Notes,  plate  vii,  2. 

^  Doutte,  Les  Djebala  du  Maroc, 
separate  reprint  from  Bull,  Soc.  de 


Geogr.  et  d^Archeol.  de  la  Province 
d'Oran,  xix  (1899),  23. 

^  Von  den  Steinen,  Unter  den 
Naturvolkern  Zentral-Brasiliens,  480. 
See  also  on  the  Baito  or  Bahito,  Frie 
and  Radin  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
XXX vi  (1906),  388. 

^  Von  den  Steinen,  op.  cit.,  59, 
480  sq. 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE 


15 


one  form  or  another  of  the  men's  house. ^  There  is  also 
some  evidence  for  the  institution  among  Guiana  tribes.^ 

In  Mexico  and  Central  America,  the  men's  house  is 
found  among  some  of  the  tribes  still  living  in  a  primitive 
condition.  The  Huichol  Indians  of  the  Mexican  state  of 
Jalisco  have  the  Tokipa^  the  "house  of  all."  ^  The  Tejas, 
an  old  Mexican  tribe,  had  special  houses  used  solely  for 
council  meetings.^  With  many  of  the  interior  tribes  of 
Honduras,  the  village  consists  merely  of  one  large  building 
like  the  long  houses  of  the  Borneo  aborigines.  The  back 
part  of  such  a  structure  is  partitioned  off  into  small  bedrooms 
for  married  couples  and  unmarried  v^omen.  A  platform 
immediately  under  the  roof  serves  for  the  boys.^  Among 
the  Isthmian  tribes  "each  village  has  a  public,  tov^n,  or 
council-house,"  ^  and  these  are  also  found  among  the 
Guatemala  Indians.^  The  secret  councils  and  assemblies 
of  the  Nicaragua  Indians  w^ere  held  in  a  house  called 
Grepon.^  In  every  city  and  town  of  ancient  Mexico 

there  were  large  houses  situated  near  the  temples  where 
the  young  men  were  taught  by  the  priests.  These  Tel- 
puchcalty  as  they  were  called,  appear  to  have  been  used  also 
as  the  sleeping  resorts  of  the  young  men.^  Very  similar 
were  the  Calpules  found  in  the  provinces  now  a  part  of 
Guatemala.    These  were  barracks  where  the  warriors  and 


^  Ehrenreich  in  Verdffentlichungen 
aus  dem  Kdniglichen  Museum  f. 
Vdlkerkundej  ii  (Berlin,  1891),  34; 
C.  F.  P.  von  Martins,  Beitrdge  zur 
Ethnographie  und  Sprachenkunde 
Amerika^s  zumal  Brasiliens  (Leipzig, 
1867),  i,  65-67,  113,  391,  410,  597; 
Steere  in  Ann.  Rep.  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus. 
for  I  go  I  (Washington,  1903),  382- 
383. 

^  Brett,  Indian  Tribes  of  Guiana 
(New  York,  1852),  60,  63;  Harris 
in  Fifteenth  Annual  Archceological 
Report  of  David  Boyle  to  the  Minister 
of  Education^  Ontario  (Toronto, 
1904),  141. 

^  Lumholtz  in  Mem.  Amer.  Mus. 
Nat.  Hist.y  iii  (1900),  9. 


^  Mrs.  Harby  in  Ann.  Rep.  Amer. 
Hist.  Assoc.  for  i8g4  (Washington, 
1895),  80. 

^  Bancroft,  Native  Races  of  the 
Pacific  States,  i,  718. 

^  Ihid.,  i,  756. 

^  Ibid.,  i,  693. 

«  G.  F.  de  Oviedo  y  Valdes,  His- 
toire  du  Nicaragua  in  Ternaux- 
Com^dinSjV oyages,  Relations,  et  Me- 
moir es,  etc.,  xiv  (Paris,  1840),  62. 

^  Bernardino  de  Sahagun,  His- 
toria  general  de  las  cosas  de  Nueva 
Espana  (Mexico,  1829,  ed.  Busta- 
mente),  66  n.^,  268-270,  306;  F.  J. 
Clavigero,  Historia  antigua  de  Mex- 
ico (Mexico,  1844,  Eng.  trans.),  i, 
336-337- 


i6  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


the  young  unmarried  men  passed  the  night.^  "  In  the  town 
of  Tepeaca,"  writes  Herrera,  "was  a  great  House,  in  the 
Nature  of  a  College,  where  four  hundred  Youths  chosen 
by  the  Prime  Men  resided.  These  men  were  authorized 
to  stand  in  the  Ttanguezy  which  is  the  Market,  and  if  any 
Woman  brought  with  her  a  Maiden  Daughter,  above  twelve 
Years  of  Age,  they  ask'd  the  Mother,  why  she  did  not  marry 
that  Girl  ?  She  gave  what  reason  she  thought  fit;  the  young 
Man  reply'd.  It  is  now  Time  for  her  to  breed,  and  not  to 
spend  her  Time  in  vain,  carry  her  to  the  House  of  the  young 
Batchelors,  and  he  appointed  the  Time.  She  rejoyn'd,  that 
she  had  not  the  Dues  belonging  to  it,  but  would  bring  them 
by  such  a  Day,  and  that  was  a  Mantle,  and  the  Cloth  two 
Yards  long,  which  the  Men  wore  instead  of  Breeches. 
Then  she  carry'd  the  Girl,  whom  the  Youth  kept  one  Night, 
and  deflower'd,  if  he  lik'd,  he  took  her  to  Wife,  departed 
the  College,  and  went  home  to  live  with  her,  and  another  was 
put  into  the  College  in  his  Stead.  If  he  did  not  like,  he 
restored  her  to  the  Mother,  ordering  that  she  should  be 
marry'd  and  multiply.  Such  Colleges  as  these  there  were  in 
other  great  Towns."  ^ 

Among  the  Pueblo  Indians  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
the  United  States,  the  well-known  Kivas  appear  to  be  a 
survival  of  this  primitive  institution  of  the  men's  house. 
The  Kivas  are  subterranean  rooms  and  are  used  as  a  gather- 
ing place  for  the  numerous  secret  societies  found  in  every 
pueblo.^  In  the  seven  pueblos  which  make  up  the  Tusayan 
confederacy  of  northeastern  Arizona,  there  are  thirty-three 
Kivas,  Walpi,  one  of  these  pueblos,  contains  five  Kivas 
which  appear  to  have  belonged  originally  to  the  different 
clans.  At  present  they  are  the  property  of  the  various 
secret  societies.  It  is  not  now  customary  for  all  the  mem- 
bers of  a  clan  to  be  members  of  the  same  Kiva}  Each 

^  D.  G.  de  Palacio,  "Carta  dirijida  ^  Fewkes  in  Jour.   Amer.  Eth- 

al  Rey  de  Espana''  in  E.  G.  Squier's  nol.  and  ArchcBol.,  i  (1891),  2  n}\  ii 

Collection  (New  York,  i860),  74-75.  (1892),  6  n},  14  sq. 

^  The  General  History  of  the  Vast  ^  Mindeleff  in  Eighth  Ann.  Rep, 

Continent  and  Islands  of  America  Bur.  Ethnol.,  134. 
(London,  1740,  transl.  Stevens),  iv, 
127-128. 


THE  MEN'S  HOUSE 


17 


society  has  its  own  Kiva  which  only  initiated  members  may 
enter  during  the  performance  of  the  secret  rites.  Women 
are  always  excluded.  The  Kivas  are  also  used  for  secular 
purposes.  They  serve  as  a  place  of  assembly  and  as  the 
sleeping  place  of  the  men  and  boys  who  have  membership 
in  them.  The  institution,  here  as  elsewhere,  emphasized 
the  separation  of  the  sexes.  None  of  the  Kivas  "are  now 
preserved  exclusively  for  religious  purposes;  they  are  all 
places  of  social  resort  for  the  men,  especially  during  the 
winter,  when  they  occupy  themselves  with  the  arts  common 
among  them.  The  same  Kiva  thus  serves  as  a  temple 
during  a  sacred  feast,  at  other  times  as  a  council-house  for 
the  discussion  of  public  affairs.  It  is  also  used  as  a  work- 
shop by  the  industrious  and  as  a  lounging  place  by  the 
idle.''  ^  Structures  similar  to  the  Kivas  formerly  existed 
among  the  Cliff  Dwellers^  and  the  village  Indians  of  New 
Mexico.^  Presenting  close   resemblance   to  the 

Kivas  was  the  council-house  of  the  Indian  tribes  which  lived 
in  what  are  now  the  Gulf  states.  "The  great  council-house, 
or  rotunda,"  says  an  old  writer,  "is  appropriated  to  much 
the  same  purpose  as  the  public  square,  but  more  private, 
and  seems  particularly  dedicated  to  political  affairs ;  women 
and  youth  are  never  admitted ;  and  I  suppose  it  is  death  for 
a  female  to  presume  to  enter  the  door,  or  approach  within 
its  pale."  ^  The  council-houses  of  the  Delaware  Indians 
were   a   similar  institution.^  The   Kivas  of  the 

Pueblo  Indians,  though  properly  distinguished  from  the 
Estufasy  or  Sweat-houses,  were  occasionally  used  for  the 
same  purpose  as  the  latter  structures.^  Among  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  Northwest,  the  Sweat-house,  besides  its  purely 
medicinal  uses,  was  also  the  centre  of  community  life.  The 


^  Bandelier,  quoted  in  Amer.  Anti- 
quarian, xix  (1897),  174.  Cf.  ibid., 
XX  (1898),  238. 

^  Peet  in  Amer.  Antiquarian,  x 
(1888),  351- 

^  Ingersoll  in  Jour.  Amer.  Geogr. 
Soc,  vii  (1875),  123. 

*  Bartram,  Travels  through  North 
and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  East 
c 


and  West  Florida  (Philadelphia,  1791), 
448. 

^  Loskiel,  Geschichte  der  Mission 
der  evangelischen  Briider  unter  den 
Indianern  in  Nordamerika  (Bar by, 
1789),  168,  173. 

^  Powell  in  Jour.  Amer,  Geogr. 
Soc,  viii  (1876),  264;  Bancroft, 
Native  Races,  i,  537-538. 


i8  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Taikyuw  of  the  Northern  CaHfornia  Hupas  is  the  general 
resort  of  the  men  for  visiting  and  gossiping.  Here  all  the 
men,  married  and  unmarried,  sleep  at  night.  Women 
seldom  enter  it/ 

The  men's  house  has  survived  in  much  of  its  original 
vigor  among  the  Eskimo  tribes  of  Alaska.  The  Kozges  or 
Kashims  of  the  Eskimo  of  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  (Bering 
Straits)  is  only  visited  by  women  when  public  dances  are 
given  in  it.  Each  Kashim  is  built  and  maintained  by  the 
community  as  the  club-house,  workshop,  and  gambling- 
house.  Here  are  held  the  religious  dances  and  the  recep- 
tions to  members  of  neighboring  tribes.*^  There  is  "scarcely 
an  occurrence  of  note  in  the  life  of  an  Eskimo  man  which 
he  cannot  connect  with  rites  in  which  the  Kashim  plays 
an  important  part.  This  is  essentially  the  house  of  the 
men;  at  certain  times,  and  during  the  performance  of 
certain  rites,  the  women  are  rigidly  excluded,  and  the 
men  sleep  there  at  all  times  when  their  observances  re- 
quire them  to  keep  apart  from  their  wives.''  ^  Structures 
similar    to    the    Kashims    formerly    existed    among  the 


^  Goddard  in  Publications  of  the 
University  of  California.  Series  in 
Amer.  Archceol.  and  EthnoL,  i  (1903), 
15-17,  50.  See  also  Kroeber,  ibid.^ 
ii  (1904),  86.  Upper  Klamath  Indians 
use  the  Sweat-house  in  connection 
with  the  mysterious  Sifsan  cere- 
monies. On  these  ceremonies,  see 
Miss  Fry  in  Out  West,  xxi  (1904),  509. 
The  Sweat-bath  among  the  Thomp- 
son Indians  of  British  Columbia  has 
a  religious  significance  when  employed 
by  the  lads  at  puberty  (Teit  in  Mem, 
Amer.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  ii  (1900), 
319  sq.).  Its  use  among  the  Apache 
medicine-men  as  a  preparation  for 
the  celebration  of  various  religious 
rites,  is  well  known  (Burke  in  Ninth 
Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  EthnoL,  ^^^).  Among 
the  Ojibwa,  novices  undergoing 
initiation  into  the  Midewiwin  must 
take  a  sweat  bath  once  a  day  for  four 
days.      During  the  process  of  purga- 


tion, the  candidate's  thoughts  must 
dwell  upon  the  seriousness  of  the 
course  he  is  pursuing  and  the  sacred 
character  of  the  new  life  he  is 
about  to  assume."  (Hoffman  in 
Seventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.y 
204.) 

^  Wickersham  in  Amer.  Anti- 
quarian, xxiv  (1902),  221-223. 

^  Nelson  in  Eighteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Amer.  EthnoL,  286.  For  fur- 
ther interesting  details  regarding 
the  Kashim,  see  Erman  in  Zeits. 
f.  EthnoL,  ii  (1870),  315;  A.  Woldt, 
Capitain  Jacobsen's  Reise  an  der 
Nordwestkuste  Amerikas,  159 ;  Whym- 
per,  Travel  and  Adventure  in  the 
Territory  of  Alaska,  141-143;  Sir 
John  Richardson,  Arctic  Searching 
Expedition,  365-369;  Gilder,  Ice- 
Pack  and  Tundra,  56-58;  Elliott, 
Our  Arctic  Province,  385-387,  390, 
393-394. 


THE  MEN^S  HOUSE  19 

Tlinkit  Indians  ^  and  there  is  some  evidence  for  their 
previous  existence  among  the  Labrador  and  Greenland 
Eskimo.^ 

^  Krause,  Die  Tlinkit-Indianer,  Rink,  The  Eskimo  Tribes y  11-12; 
129,  234.  Packard,  The  Labrador  Coast,  254- 

2  Richardson,  op.  cit.,  254,  366;  255. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 

That  system  of  sexual  separation  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
arranges  the  tribe  into  two  great  divisions,  is  reenforced  by 
the  presence  of  another  factor.  Within  the  ranks  of  the 
males  further  separations  and  groupings,  based  on  distinc- 
tions of  age,  assert  themselves  and  ultimately  develop  into 
what  constitute  the  earliest  systems  of  caste.  In  fevery 
primitive  society  there  is  a  natural  tendency  for  those  of 
the  same  age,  who  have  consequently  the  same  interests  and 
duties,  to  group  themselves  on  the  basis  of  these  distinctions, 
and  by  that  very  grouping  of  like  with  like  to  separate  them- 
selves from  other  and  unlike  groups.  Such  rude  classes  as 
form  themselves  in  obedience  to  this  instinct  are,  therefore, 
those  of  boys  who  have  not  yet  arrived  at  puberty;  un- 
married youths;  mature  men  on  whom  the  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  tribesmen  rest;  and,  finally,  old  men,  the 
repositories  of  tribal  wisdom  and  the  directors  of  the  com- 
munity. On  the  attainment  of  puberty  a  lad  is  enrolled  in 
the  ranks  of  the  bachelors,  or,  where  marriage  immediately 
succeeds  puberty,  is  made  at  once  a  full  tribesman.  Tribes- 
man and  warrior  he  continues  until,  in  process  of  time,  his 
eldest  son  has  himself  reached  manhood  and  is  ready  to 
assume  those  duties  which  have  previously  rested  on  the 
father  alone.  He  then  becomes  an  elder  and  retires  from 
active  service.  While  each  separate  class  so  formed  has 
a  unity  and  a  solidarity  of  its  own,  yet  each  is  comprehended 
in  the  higher  unity  of  the  tribal  organization  consisting  of 
all  initiated  men.  The  tribe  becomes,  in  fact,  a  secret  as- 
sociation, divided  into  grades  or  classes  out  of  which  as  a 
later  development  arise  the  "degrees"  of  the  secret  societies. 
The  passage  from  one  class  to  another  immediately  higher 
is  usually  attended  with  various  ceremonies  of  a  secret  and 
initiatory  character. 

20 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 


Of  these  ceremonies  of  initiation,  the  most  interesting 
and  important  are  those  which  transfer  the  youth,  arrived 
at  puberty,  from  association  with  the  women  and  children 
and  introduce  him  to  the  wider  Hfe  of  the  tribe,  and  to  the 
society  of  men.  During  the  years  of  infancy  and  early  boy- 
hood, whatever  care  and  training  the  lad  receives  naturally 
comes  from  his  mother.  As  he  gains  in  years  and  experience 
the  mother's  influence  over  him  declines  and  the  father  be- 
gins to  assume  a  greater  part  in  his  education.  The  in- 
itiation ceremonies  at  puberty  serve  to  complete  this  trans- 
fer of  the  child  from  mother-right  to  father-  and  tribal-right. 
The  period  of  their  celebration  constitutes  the  most  solemn 
and  important  epoch  in  his  entire  life. 

In  some  of  the  initiation  rites,  the  surrender  of  the  boys 
by  their  mothers  is  dramatically  represented.  At  some  Bora 
ceremonies  in  New  South  Wales  after  preliminary  per- 
formances lasting  three  days,  one  morning  after  sunrise 
all  the  people  —  men,  women,  and  children — assembled  ad- 
jacent to  a  large  circle  which  had  been  previously  marked  out 
on  the  ground.  The  men  formed  into  a  group  and  danced 
in  front  of  the  women  and  children.  The  mothers  of  those 
to  be  initiated  stood  in  the  front  row  of  the  women  during 
the  dance,  and  at  its  conclusion  "they commanded  the  novices 
to  enter  the  circle,  thus  relinquishing  their  authority  over 
them.  Up  to  this  time  the  women  retained  possession  of 
the  youths,  but  now  surrendered  them  to  the  headmen  of 
the  tribes."  ^  Among  the  Yaroinga  tribe  of  Queensland, 
when  initiation  draws  nigh,  the  novice,  who  has  been  elab- 
orately decorated  with  waist-belt  and  head-dress,  is  brought 
before  his  parents  and  friends.  "When  the  women  first 
gaze  upon  the  lad  thus  ornamented,  they  all  begin  to  cry, 
and  so  do  his  immediate  relatives,  his  father  and  mother's 
brothers,  who  fuijfher  smear  themselves  over  with  grease 
and  ashes  to  express  their  grief."  ^  In  the  puberty 

rites  of  the  Andaman  Islanders,  at  a  certain  stage  in  the 


*  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc. 
Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxviii 
(1894),  117. 

^  Roth,  Ethnological  Studies,  172. 


For  the  curious  ceremony  of  the  War- 
ramunga  tribe,  cf.  Spencer  and  Gillen, 
Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Australia^ 
362-363. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


proceedings,  the  mother,  sister,  and  other  female  relatives 
of  the  novice  come  and  weep  over  him,  the  reason  given 
being  "that  the  youth  has  now  entered  upon  an  important 
epoch  in  his  life,  and  is  about  to  experience  the  trials  and 
vicissitudes  incidental  thereto."  ^ 

The  women,  however,  seldom  manifest  any  unwilling- 
ness at  thus  losing  the  control  of  their  children.  In  one  of 
the  Boras  after  the  secret  rites  are  over,  "the  youths  are 
brought  back  to  the  camp  and  shown  to  the  women,  who 
pretend  to  feel  deep  sorrow  for  them,  but  who  are  in  reality 
very  proud  of  having  their  sons  or  brothers  initiated  to 
manhood,  as  it  gives  them  a  status  in  the  tribe  which  they 
did  not  before  possess."  ^ 

Every  effort  is  made  by  the  directors  of  the  ceremonies  to 
impress  upon  the  novices  the  necessity  of  their  strict  separa- 
tion henceforth,  not  only  from  the  women,  but  from  all  their 
childhood  ways  and  life.  In  certain  Australian  ceremonies 
novices  lose  one  or  more  of  their  teeth.  When  a  tooth  is 
not  readily  dislodged  and  many  blows  are  required,  the  ex- 
planation always  given  is  that  "'the  boy  has  not  kept  to 
himself,  but  has  been  too  much  in  the  company  of  the  girls 
and  women.'"  ^  At  the  Kuringal  of  the  Coast  Murring, 
"two  old  men  sat  down  on  the  ground,  in  front  of  the  novices, 
and  proceeded,  with  most  ludicrous  antics,  to  make  a  'dirt- 
pie,'  after  the  manner  of  children,  while  the  men  danced 
round  them.  The  Kahos  told  their  charges  that  this  was  to 
show  them  that  they  must  no  longer  consort  with  children 
and  play  at  childish  games,  but  for  the  future  act  as  men."  ^ 
Arunta  boys  while  being  painted  —  the  first  initiatory  cere- 
mony —  are  informed  that  this  will  promote  their  growth 
to  manhood,  "and  they  are  also  told  by  tribal  fathers  and 
elder  brothers  that  in  future  they  rnust  not  play  with  the 
women  and  girls,  nor  must  they  camp  ^ith  them  as  they 
have  hitherto  done,  but  henceforth  they  must  go  to  the  camp 
of  the  men,  which  is  known  as  the  Ungunja,    Up  to  this 

^  Man  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,         ^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 

xii  (1882),  131  n^.  xiii  (1884),  448. 

^  Cameron  in  Jour,  Anthrop.  Inst.,  ^  Ibid.,  444. 

xiv  (1884),  359. 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 


time  they  have  been  accustomed  to  go  out  with  the  women 
as  they  searched  for  vegetable  food  and  the  smaller  animals, 
such  as  lizards  and  rats;  now  they  begin  to  accompany  the 
men  in  their  search  for  larger  game,  and  begin  also  to  look 
forward  to  the  time  when  they  will  become  fully  initiated 
and  admitted  to  all  the  secrets  of  the  tribe,  which  are  as  yet 
kept   hidden   from    them.'^  ^  Among   the  Gulf 

Papuans,  when  a  boy  has  reached  five  years  of  age,  his 
father  or  male  guardian  takes  the  first  step  towards  initiation 
by  giving  a  dedicatory  feast,  a  purely  family  affair,  the  object 
of  which  is  to  enable  the  father  to  announce  to  the  relatives 
of  the  family  and  to  the  tribe  in  general  that  at  the  proper 
time  he  intends  to  present  his  child  for  initiation.  The 
maternal  relatives  of  the  boy  share  largely  in  the  food. 
The  feast  is  an  intimation  to  them  that  henceforth  the  boy 
is  to  leave  their  control  and  enter  that  of  the  father  or  male 
guardian.  To  the  tribe,  also,  it  forms  a  public  acknowledg- 
ment that  the  father  or  guardian  will  become  responsible 
for  all  the  fees  which  are  necessary  for  passage  through  the 
initiation  ceremonies.^  In  New  Caledonia  where 

puberty  rites  are  obsolete,  circumcision  occurring  at  three 
years  of  age,  a  boy  remains  with  his  mother  only  until  he 
is  weaned.  After  circumcision  he  receives  the  marrouy  or 
emblem  of  manhood,  and  from  this  moment  he  ^'no  longer 
has  anything  to  do  with  his  mother  and  sees  in  her  nothing 
more  than  an  ordinary  woman."  ^  During  their 

novitiate,  boys  of  the  Yaunde  tribe  of  Kamerun  must  fasten 
banana  leaves  to  their  legs  as  a  symbol  that  they  are  as  yet 
like  women.  On  their  return  to  the  village  as  initiated 
men  these  humiliating  reminders  of  their  inferiority  are  torn 
off  by  the  female  members  of  the  community,  amid  great 
rejoicings.*  Among  the  Hottentots,  according  to  an  old 
account,  the  boys  remained  entirely  with  their  mothers  up 
to  their  eighteenth  year.    Before  initiation  they  might  not 


^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia ,  215- 
217. 

^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop,  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  419. 


^  Opigez  in  Bull.  Soc,  Geogr.  de 
Paris,  seventh  series,  vii  (1886), 
436-437- 

^  Morgen,  Durch  Kamerun  von 
Sad  nach  Nord,  52. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


converse  with  men,  not  even  v^ith  their  own  fathers.  At 
the  great  feast  which  introduced  the  initiation  rites,  the  old- 
est man  present  thus  addressed  the  youth:  '''That  the  Men 
having  thought  him  worthy  to  be  admitted  into  their  Society, 
he  was  now  to  take  an  Eternal  Farewel  of  his  Mother  and  the 
Nursery,  and  of  all  his  Boy's  Tricks  and  Gewgaws.  That 
if  he  is  but  once  seen  again  to  chat  with  his  Mother,  and 
does  not  always  carefully  avoid  her  Company,  he  will  be 
look'd  upon  as  a  Babe,  and  as  altogether  unworthy  of  the 
Conversation  of  the  Men,  and  will  be  banish'd  the  same, 
and  must  again  undergo  the  Andersmaken  to  repossess  him- 
self of  that  Honour.  That  all  his  Thoughts,  Words  and 
Actions  are  from  that  Time  forward  to  be  Manly;  and  that 
he  is  never  to  admit  the  least  Effeminacy  or  Tarnish  of  the 
Nursery  into  any  of  'em.'"  ^  A  Hottentot  "thus  discharg'd 
from  the  Tuition  of  his  Mother,  may  insult  her  when  he  will 
with  Impunity.  .  .  .  Immediately  after  the  Reception  of 
a  young  Fellow  into  the  Society  of  the  Men,  it  is  an  ordinary 
Thing  for  him  to  go  and  abuse  his  Mother,  and  make  a 
reproachful  Triumph  upon  his  being  discharg'd  from  her 
Tuition,  in  Testimony  of  the  Sincerity  of  his  Intentions  to 
follow  the  Admonition  of  the  Declaimer  at  his  Admission."  ^ 
In  the  Ona  tribe  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  the  men  "form  a 
conspiracy  whose  object  is  to  frighten  the  women  by  tricks 
and  certain  other  inventions  into  an  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence. Women  are  looked  upon  as  social  inferiors.  .  .  . 
To  no  woman  must  a  warrior  show  his  whole  mind  but  only 
to  his  father  and  his  friend,  or  to  little  children.  .  .  .  These 
and  many  other  lessons  are  instilled  into  the  boy's  mind 
during  the  long  winter  nights  by  his  elders,  to  whom  he 
yields  unfailing  respect  and  obedience.  The  tie  between 
brother  and  brother,  man  and  man,  is  with  the  Onas  far 
more  binding  than  that  between  the  opposite  sexes."  ^ 

With  the  tribe  as  a  secret  association  consisting  of  all 
initiated  men,  it  follows  that  initiation  is  practically  com- 
pulsory.   Failure  to  undergo  the  rites  means  deprivation 


^  Kolben,  The  Present  State  of  the  ^  Barclay  in  The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  i,  121.  tury  and  After,  January,  1904,  99- 

^  Ibid.,  i,  124.  100. 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 


of  all  tribal  privileges  and  disgrace  for  life.  The  uninitiated 
are  the  "barbarians"  of  primitive  society.  They  belong  v^ith 
the  v^omen  and  children.  Those  who  would  remain  with  the 
women  after  having  reached  manhood  are  the  subjects  of 
ridicule  and  abuse.  They  are  "milk-sops"  and  "pariahs" 
with  whom  real  men  will  have  nothing  to  do.  Under  sterner 
conditions  death  or  expulsion  from  the  tribe  is  the  punish- 
ment of  such  renegades.  "I  observed,"  writes  Mr.  Fison 
of  the  Fijians,  "that  the  old  Wainimala  man  made  no  dis- 
tinction between  the  uninitiated  men  and  the  children. 
He  classed  them  all  together  in  his  narrative  as  ^  Ko  ira  na 
ngone^  =  they,  the  children."  ^  An  old  West  Kimberley 
native  told  another  observer  that  until  the  boys  were  sub- 
incised,  a  rite  which  occurs  five  years  after  circumcision, 
"^  they  were  all  the  same  dog  (or  other  animal).'"  ^  At  the 
Kadjawalung  of  the  Coast  Murring,  witnessed  by  Mr. 
Howitt,  a  "singular  feature  now  showed  itself.  There 
were  at  this  time  two  or  three  Biduelli  men  with  their  wives 
and  children  in  the  encampment,  and  also  one  of  the  Krau- 
atungalung  Kurnai,  with  his  wife  and  child.  When  these 
ceremonies  commenced  they,  with  one  exception,  went  away, 
because  neither  the  Biduelli  or  the  Krauatun  Kurnai  had, 
as  I  have  said  before,  any  initiation  ceremonies,  and  these 
men  had  therefore  never  been  'made  men.'  The  fine  man 
who  remained  was  the  old  patriarch  of  the  Biduelli,  and  he 
was  now  driven  crouching  among  the  women  and  children. 
The  reason  was  self-evident;  he  had  never  been  made  a 
man,  and  therefore  was  no  more  than  a  mere  boy."  ^ 
Among  the  natives  of  the  Papuan  Gulf,  the  stages  of 
initiation  are  marked  by  feasts  given  by  the  relatives  of  the 
initiates.  "Unless  the  father  or  male  guardian  of  the  boy 
who  is  being  initiated  provides  a  pig  for  each  stage  of  the 
boy's  initiation,  the  boy  is  marked  henceforth  as  not  having 
been  fully  initiated ;  this  is  a  serious  matter  to  him  when  he 
becomes  a  man,  and  debars  him  from  many  privileges  as  well 


^  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiv  (1884), 
18  n\ 

^  Froggatt  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc. 


New  South  Wales,  second  series,  iii 
(1888),  652. 

3  Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Aus- 
tralia, 530. 


26  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


as  lays  him  open  to  many  a  taunt  and  insult  from  his  com- 
peers/' ^  The  circumcision  lodges  of  some  of  the 
Transvaal  tribes  are  held  at  intervals  of  four  or  five  years. 
"Native  public  opinion  drives  many  to  submit  to  the  rites. 
They  are  jeered  at  if  they  refuse,  and  are  treated  to  ridicule, 
such  as  the  following  expressions:  'You  are  a  woman,' 
'Your  eyes  are  unopened,'  and  perhaps  the  still  greater 
taunt,  'You  will  not  please  the  women,  who  prefer  circum- 
cised men.'"  ^  The  "devil  bush"  of  the  Vey  peoples 
of  Liberia  is  "  an  institution  for  instructing  every  man  in  the 
tribe  as  to  his  duty  to  the  commonwealth."  No  one  may 
hold  office  until  after  initiation.  The  visible  symbol  of  such 
initiation  consists  of  deep  scarifications  from  the  back  of  the 
neck  downward.  Should  a  boy  before  initiation  get  such 
scars  even  by  accident,  he  would  be  severely  punished.^ 

Of  such  great  importance  is  initiation  that  it  is  sometimes 
undergone  by  those  who  are  no  longer  children,  but  who, 
for  one  reason  or  another,  have  been  unable  to  pass  through 
the  rites  at  an  earlier  date.  The  Nanga  ceremonies  of  the 
Fijians  took  place  at  intervals,  the  length  of  which  was  deter- 
mined by  the  elders.  The  existence  of  war  or  the  presence  of 
famine  or  disease  might  cause  a  long  period  to  elapse  be- 
tween initiations,  and  so  it  would  happen  that  bearded  men 
who  had  children  of  their  own  might  be  seen  in  the  Nanga 
enclosure  along  with  youths  just  arrived  at  puberty.^  In 
the  Barium  ceremonies  of  the  natives  of  Finsch  Haven,  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  Land,  which  took  place  every  twenty  years,  mar- 
ried men  were  occasionally  circumcised  and  made  members 
of  the  tribe ;  sometimes  as  many  as  a  hundred  men  and  boys 
were  initiated  at  once.^  The  Anyasa  of  East  Central 
Africa  do  not  have  initiation  ceremonies.    Should  a  member 


^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop,  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  419. 

^  Wheelwright  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  XXXV  (1905),  254. 

^  Penick,  quoted  in  Jour.  Amer. 
Folk -Lore,  ix  (1896),  221-222. 

^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiv  (1884),  19-20. 

^  Schellong  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 


Ethnogr.y  ii  (1889),  154;  Vetter  in 
Nachrichten  iiher  Kaiser  Wilhelms- 
Land  und  den  Bismarck- ArchipeL, 
xiii  (1897),  93.  The  *^huskanawing" 
of  Powhatan  youths  was  every  four- 
teen or  fifteen  years  (Beverley,  His- 
tory of  Virginia,  177).  But  such  long 
intervals  between  initiation  rites  are 
not  usual. 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 


of  this  tribe  be  captured  by  the  Wayao  and  be  made  a  slave, 
he  would  be  put  through  the  Wayao  rites,  even  were  he  an 
old  man  and  already  married/ 

Initiation,  moreover,  is  the  privilege  only  of  those  who  are 
by  birth  true  members  of  the  tribe.  Aliens  may  aid  in  the 
preparations  for  the  great  Nanga  ceremonies  of  the  Fijians 
and  may  share  in  the  feasts  that  follow;  but  in  the  sacred 
rites  they  have  no  part.^  The  Elema  natives  of  the  Papuan 
Gulf  exclude  all  illegitimate  children.^  The  Australians  will 
not  allow  the  presence  of  half-castes.  ^^^These  half-castes,"^ 
said  a  native  to  Mr.Howitt,  ^^^have  nothing  to  do  with  us/"  ^ 

It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of 
these  ceremonies  as  providing  social  bonds  based  upon  ideas 
of  kinship  and  brotherhood  in  societies  without  a  central- 
ized political  control,  and  as  promoting  a  very  real  sense  of 
solidarity  in  a  tribal  organization  consisting  only  of  initiated 
men.  A  primitive  sort  of  caste  feeling  is  the  outcome, 
serving  to  emphasize  the  separation  of  the  initiated  men, 
not  only  from  the  women  and  children,  but  from  all  uniniti- 
ated men,  whether  of  the  tribe  itself  or  of  outside  tribes.  And 
though  such  a  conception  of  human  brotherhood  cannot 
extend  beyond  the  narrow  confines  of  the  tribe,  the  require- 
ment of  tribal  solidarity  in  this  stage  of  social  evolution  is 
far  more  pressing  than  that  of  tribal  expansion.  "Between 
the  males  of  a  tribe,"  writes  Mr.  Curr,  of  the  Australians, 
"there  always  exists  a  strong  feeling  of  brotherhood,  so  that, 
come  weal  come  woe,  a  man  can  always  calculate  on  the  aid, 
in  danger,  of  every  member  of  his  tribe."  ^  Of  the  Kurnai 
initiation,  Mr.  Howitt  says :  "  It  formed  a  bond  of  peculiar 
strength,  binding  together  all  the  contemporaries  of  the 
various  clans  of  the  Kurnai.  It  was  a  brotherhood  including 
all  the  descendants  of  the  eponymous  male  and  female 
ancestors,  Yeerung  and  Djeetgun."  ®  All  the  lads  who  have 
gone  through  the  Jeraeil  at  the  same  time  "  are  brothers,  and 
in  the  future  address  each  other's  wives  as  'wife,'  and  each 

*  Macdonald,  Africana,  i,  127.  *  Ihid.,  xiv  (1885),  303. 

^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop,  Inst.,  ^  Australian  Race,  i,  62. 

xiv  (1884),  16.  ®  Kdmilaroi  and  Kurnai,  199. 
^  Holmes,  ibid,,  xxxii  (1902),  420. 


28  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


other's  children  as  'child/"  ^  Of  the  Bondei  of  German 
East  Africa,  Mr.  Dale  writes  that  the  "friendships  made  in 
the  Galo  are  said  to  be  life  long."  ^ 

For  the  successful  conduct  of  the  initiatory  rites,  prolonged 
tribal  assemblies  are  required.  Such  assemblies  are  naturally 
made  the  occasion  of  extended  festivities  and  celebrations, 
at  which  there  is  much  friendly  intercourse  and  intermingling 
of  distant  and  perhaps  hostile  contingents,  as  well  as  trans- 
action of  matters  important  to  the  tribal  polity.  Thus  from 
another  point  of  view  the  peaceful  initiatory  gatherings 
indicate  a  considerable  advance  in  social  relations  and  con- 
tribute to  the  process  ever  going  on  of  welding  small  local 
groups  into  larger  tribal  aggregates.^  Australia  furnishes 
some  apt  examples.  Here  every  tribe  has  its  fixed  territorial 
limits  beyond  which  it  may  not  expand,  except  at  the  cost  of 
war.  Such  tribes  are  frequently  bound  together  into  larger 
aggregates,  and  form  a  community  united  by  the  possession 
of  the  same  divisional  system  and  language.  Between  such 
tribes  there  is  more  or  less  intermarriage  and  participation 
in  identical  or  similar  initiation  ceremonies.^  The  five  tribes 
of  New  South  Wales  whose  initiation  ceremonies  were 
studied  by  Mr.  Howitt  ''represent  a  social  aggregate,  namely, 
a  community  bound  together,  in  spite  of  diversity  of  class 
system,  by  ceremonies  of  initiation,  which,  although  they 
vary  slightly  in  difi^erent  localities,  are  yet  substantially 
the  same,  and  are  common  to  all."  Each  of  these  tribes  is 
connected  in  the  same  way  with  neighboring  tribes,  so  that 
the  community,  as  indicated  by  the  initiation  ceremonies, 
covers  a  much  greater  extent  of  territory  than  that  which  the 
five  tribes  alone  occupy.    These  widely  scattered  tribes  may 


^  Kdmilaroi  and  Kurnai,  198. 
2  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxv  (1896), 
192. 

^  The  sexual  license  involving  the 
relaxation  of  the  usual  totemic  re- 
strictions which  is  so  often  a  feature 
of  these  meetings,  may  possibly  be 
a  survival  of  earlier  promiscuous  prac- 
tices. In  some  cases  it  certainly 
seems  to  have  a  religious  significance. 


For  examples  from  Australia,  Fiji, 
and  North  America,  see  Mathews 
in  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Victoria,  new  series, 
ix  (1897),  153 ;  Fison  mJour.  Anthrop, 
Inst.,  xiv  (1885),  28;  Catlin,  O- 
Kee-Pa,  32  sq. 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy, 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxii  (1898), 
66  sq. 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 


attend  initiation,  because  connubium  exists  between  them.^ 
Messengers,  bearing  as  the  symbol  of  their  office  the  sacred 
bull-roarers,  are  sent  out  to  summon  the  tribes  to  participation 
in  the  Borasy  or  initiation  meetings.  No  tribesman  having 
seen  the  bull-roarers  and  heard  the  message  would  dare  to 
disregard  the  invitation.  When  at  length  the  various  con- 
tingents which  have  received  the  summons  arrive  at  the 
locality  agreed  upon,  all  hostile  feelings  are  put  aside  and  the 
utmost  friendship  prevails  throughout  the  entire  period  of 
the  ceremonies.^  These  initiatory  meetings  naturally  furnish 
an  opportunity  for  the  transaction  of  tribal  or  intertribal 
business.  After  the  great  Bunan  of  the  Coast  Murring  of 
New  South  Wales,  a  fair  is  frequently  held  just  before  the 
people  return.  There  is  much  bartering  of  goods  which  have 
been  made  and  brought  to  the  Bunan  for  this  special  purpose.^ 
Matrimonial  arrangements  and  other  regulations  are  some- 
times made  at  this  time.  Mr.  Mathews  writes:  "When  all 
the  merry-making  is  over,  if  any  of  the  people  present  have  a 
personal  grievance  to  bring  before  the  headmen  or  a  com- 
plaint to  make  respecting  a  violation  of  the  tribal  laws,  the 
matter  is  fully  discussed  by  the  elders  of  the  several  tribes, 
and  punishment  is  meted  out  to  the  offending  parties  in  the 
presence  of  the  men  and  women  of  the  whole  assemblage."  ^ 
The  leading  elders  among  the  Port  Macquarrie  natives  when 
assembled  for  the  initiatory  performances  "form  a  council, 
by  whose  authority  wars  are  proclaimed,  boundaries  settled, 


^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  433  sq.;  id.,  Native  Tribes 
of  South-East  Australia,  512. 

^  Fraser  in  Amer.  Antiquarian, 
xxi  (1899),  234;  Enright  in  Jour,  and 
Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales, 
xxxiii  (1899),  116  n'^.  At  the  Bora 
of  the  Kamilaroi  of  New  South  Wales, 
which  took  place  in  1894,  three  tribes 
participated,  and  203  persons  were 
present.  Of  these  58  were  women 
and  49  were  children.  Twenty  youths 
were  initiated.  The  Bora  did  not 
begin  promptly  after  the  call  for  its 
celebration  had  been  issued,  for  some 
of  the  natives  had  to  travel  over  one 


hundred  miles  in  order  to  be  present. 
Consequently,  while  only  five  weeks 
were  actually  taken  up  with  the  initia- 
tion rites,  over  four  months  elapsed 
from  the  arrival  of  the  first  contin- 
gent to  the  final  dispersion  of  the 
tribes  (Mathews  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxiv  (1895),  413  sq.). 

^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  456  n^.  The  conclusion 
of  the  Asa  ceremonies  of  the  Tamo, 
Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land,  is  also  marked 
by  a  primitive  sort  of  fair  (Hagen, 
Unter  den  Papua's,  238). 

*  Amer.  Anthropologist,  ix  (1896), 
343- 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


and  one  tribe  prevented  from  interfering  with,  or  encroaching 
upon,  another/'  ^  Such  AustraHan  ceremonies,  requiring 
the  presence  of  every  member  of  the  tribe,  naturally  serve 
as  the  chief  vehicle  for  the  transmission  of  the  customs  and 
traditions  of  the  community  from  one  generation  to  another. 
At  a  recent  Bora^  for  example,  there  were  present  a  number 
of  young  men,  tuggabillas^  who  had  been  initiated  at  a  pre- 
vious inaugural  rite.  They  "walked  unrestrained  with  the 
old  men  all  over  the  Bora  ground,  and  everything  on  it  was 
fully  explained  to  them,  so  that  when  they  become  old  men 
they  may  be  able  to  produce  similar  figures  and  explain 
their  meaning  to  the  young  men  of  the  tribe,  so  that  their 
customs  and  traditions,  rites  and  ceremonies,  may  be  handed 
down  from  one  generation  to  another."  ^  The  meetings  of 
the  Central  Australian  tribes  for  the  Engwura  rites,  though 
their  general  result  is  to  strengthen  the  hold  of  the  tribal 
customs  upon  the  initiated,  do  sometimes  serve  as  a  vehicle 
for  the  introduction  of  changes  in  these  customs.  Innova- 
tions introduced  by  important  elders  at  their  local  group 
might  be  discussed  at  the  general  meetings  of  the  elders  of 
the  tribes,  and  if  favorably  received,  would  be  communicated 
to  all  the  tribesmen  present.  "We  have  already  pointed 
out,"  writes  Messrs.  Spencer  and  Gillen,  "that  there  are 
certain  men  who  are  especially  respected  for  their  ability, 
and  after  watching  large  numbers  of  the  tribe,  at  a  time  when 
they  were  assembled  together  for  months  to  perform  certain 
of  their  most  sacred  ceremonies,  we  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  at  a  time  such  as  this,  when  the  older  and  more 
powerful  men  from  various  groups  are  met  together,  and 
when  day  by  day  and  night  by  night  around  their  camp  fires 
they  discuss  matters  of  tribal  interest,  it  is  quite  possible  for 
changes  of  custom  to  be  introduced."  ^ 


^  Breton,  Excursions  in  New 
South  Wales,  Western  Australia,  and 
Van  Dieman^s-Landj  234. 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc, 
Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxviii 
(1894),  119.  Cf.  ibid.y  xxxi  (1897), 
127. 

^  Native  Tribes  0/  Central  Aus- 


tralia, 12.  For  the  success  with 
which  obedience  to  the  tribal  regula- 
tions is  secured  among  the  Austra- 
lians, cf.  Mathew,  Eaglehawk  and 
Crow,  93;  Ridley,  Kdmilardi  and 
other  Australian  Languages,  155; 
Curr,  The  Australian  Race,  i,  54-55, 
72. 


THE  PUBERTY  INSTITUTION 


Other  regions  of  the  world  provide  additional  illustrations 
of  the  social  aspects  of  initiation.  The  Barium  ceremonies 
of  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land,  lasting  an  entire  year,  often  bring 
together  from  the  various  villages  of  the  neighborhood  as 
many  as  half  a  thousand  men.  Singing,  dancing,  and  feast- 
ing form  the  usual  preliminaries  to  the  secret  rites.  During 
this  period  the  greatest  sociability  prevails;  among  the  men 
the  Barium  forms  the  sole  topic  of  conversation;  and  the 
boys  w^ho  are  so  soon  to  suffer  initiation,  picture  its  terrors 
to  one  another.^  At  the  Asa  rites  practised  by  the  Tamo 
natives,  young  men  from  all  the  outlying  districts  are  present 
for  initiation.  During  the  ceremonies  a  general  peace  is 
proclaimed  betv^een  the  districts  contributing  boys  to  be 
initiated.^  At  a  Marawot  festival,  one  of  the  great 

ceremonies  of  the  Dukduk  society  of  Bismarck  Archipelago, 
there  were  present  some  four  hundred  spectators  from  all  the 
near-lying  islands;  the  Kanakas  "who  otherwise  would 
scarcely  care  to  meet  give  up  all  hostile  feeling  for  the  time, 
and  ...  an  omnium  gatherum  takes  place,  which  shows 
that,  although  the  desire  for  seclusion  is  an  obstacle  to  all 
traffic,  there  are  yet  ties  between  the  people  that  prove  their 
consanguinity.''  ^  Among  the  Fijians,  it  was  cus- 

tomary for  two  years  to  elapse  between  the  building  of  the 
Nanga  and  the  actual  initiation  ceremony.  During  this 
time  great  preparations  were  made  by  all  for  the  feasts  to 
come.^  At  the  puberty  celebration  of  the  Yaunde 

of  Kamerun,  sometimes  over  a  thousand  spectators  are 
present.^  When  the  Sun  Dance,  the  most  impor- 

tant rite  of  the  Plains  Indians,  is  to  be  celebrated,  messengers 
are  sent  out  to  invite  all  the  tribes  privileged  to  participate. 
"Though  some  of  the  visitors  are  hereditary  enemies,  it 
matters  not  during  the  sun-dance;  they  visit  one  another; 
they  shake  hands  and  form  alliances."  ^ 


^  Schellong  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.y  ii  (1889),  147  sq. 

^  Bartels  in  Verhandl.  Berlin. 
Gesells.  f.  Anthrop.  Ethnol.  u.  Ur- 
geschichte,  xxvi  (1894),  200. 

^  Graf  V.  Pfeil  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxvii  (1897),  188. 


^  Fison,  ihid.j  xiv  (1884),  20  sq. 

^  Zenker  in  Mitth.  von  Forschungs- 
reisenden  und  Gelehrten  aus  den 
Deutschen  Schutzgebieten,  viii  (1895), 
55- 

^  Bushotter,  quoted  by  Dorsey  in 
Eleventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. ,  452. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  SECRET  RITES 

Puberty  institutions  for  the  initiation  of  young  men  into 
manhood  are  among  the  most  widespread  and  characteristic 
features  of  primitive  hfe.  They  are  found  among  peoples 
considered  the  lowest  of  mankind:  among  Andamanese, 
Hottentots,  Fuegians,  and  Australians;  and  they  exist  in 
various  stages  of  development  among  peoples  emerging  from 
savagery  to  barbarism.  Their  foundation  goes  back  to  an 
unknown  antiquity;  their  mysteries,  jealously  guarded  from 
the  eyes  of  all  save  the  initiated,  preserve  the  religion  and 
morality  of  the  tribe.  Though  varying  endlessly  in  detail, 
their  leading  characteristics  reproduce  themselves  with  sub- 
stantial uniformity  among  many  different  peoples  and  in 
widely  separated  areas  of  the  world.  The  initiation  by  the 
tribal  elders  of  the  young  men  of  the  tribe,  their  rigid  se- 
clusion, sometimes  for  a  lengthy  period,  from  the  women  and 
children;  their  subjection  to  certain  ordeals  and  to  rites 
designed  to  change  their  entire  natures;  the  utiHzation  of  this 
period  of  confinement  to  convey  to  the  novices  a  knowledge 
of  the  tribal  traditions  and  customs;  and  finally,  the  inculca- 
tion by  most  practical  methods  of  habits  of  respect  and  obe- 
dience to  the  older  men  —  all  these  features  are  well  described 
in  the  quaint  and  vigorous  account  by  an  old  writer  of  the 
ceremonies  once  practised  by  the  Tuscarora  Indians  of 
North  Carolina. 

According  to  Lawson,  these  Indians  had  "one  most 
abominable  custom  amongst  them,  which  they  call  hus- 
quenawing  their  young  men.  .  .  .  You  must  know,  that 
most  commonly,  once  a  year,  at  farthest,  once  in  two  years, 
these  people  take  up  so  many  of  their  young  men  as  they 
think  are  able  to  undergo  it,  and  husquenaugh  them,  which  is 
to  make  them  obedient  and  respective  to  their  superiors,  and, 

32 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


33 


as  they  say,  it  is  the  same  to  them  as  it  is  to  us  to  send  our 
children  to  school  to  be  taught  good  breeding  and  letters. 
This  house  of  correction  is  a  large,  strong  cabin,  made  on 
purpose  for  the  reception  of  the  young  men  and  boys,  that 
have  not  passed  the  graduation  already;  and  it  is  always 
at  Christmas  that  they  husquenaugh  their  youth,  which  is  by 
bringing  them  into  this  house  and  keeping  them  dark  all  the 
time,  where  they  more  than  half  starve  them.  Besides,  they 
give  them  pellitory  bark,  and  several  intoxicating  plants,  that 
make  them  go  raving  mad  as  ever  were  any  people  in  the 
world;  and  you  may  hear  them  make  the  most  dismal  and 
hellish  cries  and  bowlings  that  ever  human  creatures  ex- 
pressed; all  which  continues  about  five  or  six  weeks,  and 
the  little  meat  they  eat,  is  the  nastiest,  loathsome  stuff, 
and  mixt  with  all  manner  of  filth  it  is  possible  to  get.  After 
the  time  is  expired,  they  are  brought  out  of  the  cabin,  which 
never  is  in  the  town,  but  always  a  distance  off,  and  guarded 
by  a  jailor  or  two,  who  watch  by  turn.  Now  when  they 
first  come  out,  they  are  as  poor  as  ever  any  creatures  were; 
for  you  must  know  several  die  under  this  diabolical  purgation. 
Moreover,  they  either  really  are,  or  pretend  to  be,  dumb,  and 
do  not  speak  for  several  days ;  I  think  twenty  or  thirty,  and 
look  so  ghastly,  and  are  so  changed,  that  it  is  next  to  an  im- 
possibility to  know  them  again,  although  you  was  never  so 
well  acquainted  with  them  before.  I  would  fain  have  gone 
into  the  mad  house,  and  have  seen  them  in  their  time  of 
purgatory,  but  the  king  would  not  suffer  it,  because,  he  told 
me  they  would  do  me  or  any  other  white  man  an  injury,  that 
ventured  in  amongst  them,  so  I  desisted.  .  .  .  Now  the 
savages  say  that  if  it  was  not  for  this,  they  could  never  keep 
their  youth  in  subjection,  besides  that  it  hardens  them  ever 
after  to  the  fatigues  of  war,  hunting,  and  all  manner  of  hard- 
ship, which  their  way  of  living  exposes  them  to.  Besides, 
they  add,  that  it  carries  off  those  infirm  weak  bodies,  that 
would  have  been  only  a  burden  and  disgrace  to  their  nation, 
and  saves  the  victuals  and  clothing  for  better  people  that 
would  have  been  expended  on  such  useless  creatures."  ^ 

^  History  of  Carolina^  380-382.  Virginia  the  intoxicating  drink  ad- 
Among  the    Powhatan   Indians  of      ministered  to  the  novices  was  called 


34  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

It  is  in  their  nature  as  ordeals  that  puberty  rites  have 
attracted  most  attention.  Where  the  obligations  of  a  mili- 
tary career  rest  upon  every  tribesman,  these  ordeals  represent 
an  effort  to  impress  upon  the  novice  by  the  vivid  means  of 
bodily  torments,  the  necessary  qualities  of  a  w^arrior,  and  to 
inculcate  the  indispensable  tribal  virtues  of  bravery,  obedi- 
ence, and  self-control.  In  part  there  exists  a  real  desire  to 
submit  to  the  proof  the  manly  qualities  of  the  candidates 
for  admission,  by  ordeals  as  difficult  as  they  are  often  dis- 
gusting. With  advancing  culture  and  the  decline  of  mili- 
tancy, the  purely  brutal  aspect  of  such  practices  tends  to  pass 
away,  but  in  their  original  form  they  certainly  make  large 
drafts  upon  the  strength  and  courage  of  the  young  men  v^ho 
must  undergo  them.  Sometimes  they  are  so  severe  as  to 
ruin  the  health,  and  even  to  cause  the  death  of  the  v^eaker 
novices  —  an  outcome  v^hich  is  always  defended  by  the  old 
men  on  well-known  Darwinian  principles.^  Inability  to 
support  the  torments  is  of  course  unusual  and  would  sub- 
ject the  unhappy  youth  to  the  direst  penalties.  Among  the 
Macquarrie,  if  a  boy  gives  any  indication  of  his  sufferings,  he 
is  handed  over  to  the  women  and  henceforth  becomes  the 
comrade  of  children.^  Should  the  novices  of  the  Euahlayi 
tribe  "show  fear  and  quail  at  the  Little  Boorah,  they  would 
be  returned  to  their  mothers  as  cowards  unfitted  for  initia- 
tion, and  sooner  or  later  sympathetic  magic  would  do  its 
work,  a  poison-stick  or  bone  would  end  them."  ^  Ob- 
servers have  frequently  commented  upon  the  utter  impas- 
sibility displayed  by  the  novices  throughout  the  proceedings. 
"I  remember/'  writes  Mr.  Howitt,  ''one  young  lad  of  about 

wysoccan  (Beverley,  History  of  Vir-  Dubois  in  Amer.  Anthropologist,  new 

ginidj  lyS).    It  was  a  decoction  of  the  series,  vii,  1905,  622-623). 

leaves  and  twigs  of  cassina  or  ilex.  ^  For  some  examples  from  Aus- 

Many  other  Indian  tribes  make  use  tralia  and  Africa,  see  Taplin  in  Native 

of  similar  preparations  to  induce  ex-  Tribes  of  South  Australia,  18;  Daw- 

hilaration  and  frenzy.    The  Walapai  son,  Australian  Aborigines,  Casa- 

of  Arizona  steep  the  leaves,  roots,  and  lis,  Les  Bassoutos,  279;  Macdonald  in 

flowers  of  Datura  stramonium  for  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xix  (1889),  268. 

this  purpose  (Bourke  in  Ninth  Ann.  ^  Angas,  Savage  Life  and  Scenes 

Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.,  455).    The  Dieg-  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  ii,  224. 

uenos  of  Southern  California  used  ^  Mrs.   Parker,  Euahlayi  Tribe, 

the  roots  of  Datura  metaloides  (Miss  72-73. 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


35 


twelve,  who  showed  no  more  sense  of  anything  going  on 
round  him  than  if  he  had  been  a  bronze  statue,  and  yet,  as 
he  afterwards  said,  he  felt  quite  sure  several  times  that  he 
was  about  to  be  killed."  ^ 

It  would  be,  however,  an  error  to  infer  that  the  real  cruelty 
of  these  ordeals  is  due  mainly  to  a  savage  delight  in  witness- 
ing suffering.  Even  the  brutal  beatings  received  by  the 
novices  must  serve  to  emphasize  the  instruction  conveyed.^ 
And  it  is  most  likely  that  in  many  cases  what  we  regard  as 
merely  tests  of  courage  and  endurance  were  once  of 
deeper  significance  and  were  imposed  originally  for  religious 
or  magical  purposes.  Thus  cannibalism,  formerly  an 
initiatory  rite  among  some  Australian  tribes,  may  have  been 
retained  as  a  magical  practice  intended  to  convey  the  virtues 
of  the  eaten  man  to  the  novices,  long  after  it  had  been 
abandoned  as  a  general  custom.^  In  such  primitive  con- 
ceptions lies  very  probably  the  explanation  of  many  of 
the  phallic  and  scatalogic  rites  practised  by  Australian 
natives.^ 

The  various  mutilations  at  puberty  in  many  instances  are 
significant  not  simply  as  ordeals,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to 
test  the  constancy  of  the  novice;  they  are  further  service- 
able as  indicating  to  the  uninitiated  the  reception  of  the 
candidate  into  the  ranks  of  men.  In  this  category  belong 
knocking  out  of  teeth  and  scarification,  both  of  which  oper- 
ations leave  permanent  records  upon  the  body  of  the  novice; 


^  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.^  xiii  (1884), 
451  n\ 

^  For  some  illustrations  —  Aus- 
tralia: Mackenzie  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  vii  (1878),  252;  Torres  Straits: 
Haddon,  ibid.,  xix  (1890),  360; 
Africa:  Cole,  ibid.,  xxxii  (1902), 
308. 

^  For  an  illustration,  cf.  Jour,  and 
Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales, 
xxxiv  (1900),  278-279. 

*  For  some  examples  see  Mathews 
in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos.  Soc,  xxxix 
(1900),  634-637;  xxxvii  (1898),  62; 
Amer.  Anthropologist,  ix  (1896),  339; 
Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxvi  (1897), 


278;  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New 
South  Wales,  xxx  (1896),  212;  xxxi 
(1897),  141 ;  Mackillop  in  Trans,  and 
Proc.  and  Rep.  Roy.  Soc.  South  Aus- 
tralia, xvii  (1893),  261.  Cf.  also 
Mackenzie  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
vii  (1878),  252;  Ridley,  Kdmilaroi 
and  other  Australian  Languages,  154. 
For  similar  ordeals  among  the  natives 
of  the  Papuan  Gulf,  see  Holmes  in 
Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii  (1902), 
424,  The  Hottentot  ordeals  of  this 
nature  have  received  more  than  ade- 
quate treatment  in  Kolben's  account. 
The  Present  State  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  i,  120  sq. 


36  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


nose,  lip,  and  ear-boring,  plucking  out  of  hair,  painting,  and 
the  widespread  rite  of  tattooing,  which  is  usually  begun,  if 
not  completed,  at  the  opening  of  the  pubic  period.  Such 
significant  operations  may  often  survive  the  decline  of  the 
elaborate  tribal  puberty  rite  into  a  purely  domestic  cele- 
bration and  may  then  be  undergone  years  before  the  arrival 
of  the  child  at  manhood.^ 

The  diversity  of  the  ordeals  is  most  interesting.  Thus 
depilation,^  head-biting;  evulsion  of  teeth,  sprinkling  with 
human  blood,  drinking  of  human  blood,^  immersion  in  dust 
or  filth,  heavy  floggings,^  scarification,^  smoking  and  burning, 
circumcision  and  subincision,  are  some  of  the  forms  in  which 
the  ordeals  appear  among  the  Australians  alone. 

The  knocking  out  of  one  or  more  teeth  —  usually  the 
front  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw  —  is  the  characteristic  ordeal 
of  the  Bora  rites,  common  to  the  Eastern  Australian  tribes. 
But  this  practice  is  not  confined  to  Australia.  The  Ova- 
herero  and  Batoka  of  South  Africa  knock  out  the  two  middle 
incisors  of  the  under  jaw;  ^  Mussurongo  and  Ambriz  blacks 
knock  out  the  two  middle  front  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw.^ 
The  custom  of  the  Wagogo  of  German  East  Africa,  again, 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Ovaherero.^  The  great  care  mani- 
fested in  the  disposition  of  the  teeth  —  among  some  Aus- 
tralian tribes  it  is  carefully  wrapped  up  and  kept  by  the  boy's 
relatives  ^ — seems  to  indicate  a  peculiar  sacredness  attaching 
to  them.^^  After  the  Kuranda  of  the  Barkunjee  tribes,  at 
which  the  principal  ordeal  is  plucking  the  hair  from  the 


^  Infra,  200-201,  205-206. 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxii  (1898), 
243  sq.;  Proc.  Amer.  Philos.  Soc., 
xxxix  (1900),  631  sq.  For  similar 
depilation  ordeals  in  New  Guinea, 
cf.  Hagen,  Unter  den  Papua'' s,  237. 

^  Bonney  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1883),  128;  Angas,  Savage  Life 
and  Scenes  in  Australia  and  New 
Zealand,  i,  115. 

^  Mackenzie  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  vii  (1878),  252. 

^  Mathews  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
Soc,  xxxix  (1900),  628  sq. 


^  Fritsch,  Die  Eingeborenen  Sud- 
Afrika^s,  235. 

'  Monteiro,  Angola  and  the  River 
Congo,  \,  262. 

^  Cole  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  309. 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxii  (1898), 
248. 

A  curious  custom  is  found  among 
the  Coast  Murring  and  the  Murrum- 
bidgee  tribes.  After  the  Bora  is  over, 
and  the  natives  have  scattered  to  their 
own  localities,  the  teeth  extracted 
from  the  novices  at  initiation  are 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


37 


body  of  the  novice,  the  hair,  when  removed,  is  carefully  kept 
by  itself  and  is  disposed  of  in  the  same  fashion  as  the  ex- 
tracted teeth  in  other  tribes.^ 

Of  all  these  ordeals,  circumcision  has  the  greatest  prom- 
inence. Its  presence  in  the  puberty  rites  of  most  primitive 
peoples  as  the  necessary  preliminary  to  marriage,  suggests 
that  the  practice  was  originally  designed  to  facilitate  the 
reproductive  act.  Initiation  ceremonies  being  intended  to 
prepare  the  youth  for  the  performance  of  the  marriage 
function,  and  thus,  indirectly,  for  that  participation  in  the 
life  of  the  tribe  which  is  the  privilege  only  of  married  men, 
circumcision  naturally  becomes  the  seal  and  sign  of  this 
admission  into  the  tribal  life.  Losing  its  once  practical 
character  as  a  primitive  effort  to  assist  nature,  it  now  serves 
in  the  puberty  rites  as  a  mere  badge  or  evidence  of  incorpora- 
tion into  the  tribal  community.^ 


passed  from  one  headman  to  another 
until  they  have  made  a  complete  cir- 
cuit of  the  initiating  community. 
This  ceremonial  transmission  of  the 
extracted  teeth  serves  to  indicate 
that  the  young  men  have  acquired 
all  the  privileges  of  tribesmen. 
(Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiii 
(1884),  456-457;  Mathews  in  Jour, 
and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South 
Wales,  xxxi,  1897,  150-15 1.) 

^  Mathews,  ibid.,  xxxii  (1898), 
245;  Eyre,  Journals  of  Expeditions 
of  Discovery  into  Central  Australia, 
ii,  336  sq. 

^  This  view  of  the  origin  of  cir- 
cumcision agrees  in  the  main  with 
the  theory  developed  by  Ploss  {Das 
Kind,  i,  342  sq.),  and  adopted  by 
Andree,  Lippert,  Schurtz,  and  other 
writers.  Westermarck  connects  the 
practice  of  circumcision  as  well  as 
of  all  other  mutilations  at  puberty 
with  the  desire  for  self -decoration, 
most  strongly  experienced  at  the  be- 
ginning of  manhood.  At  first  prac- 
tised to  bring  about  variety,  and 
thereby  to  promote  sexual  attractive- 
ness, it  was  kept  up  when  it  became 


general,  from  habit  or  religious 
motives  {The  History  of  Human 
Marriage,  London,  189 1,  177  sq., 
201  sq^.  The  difficulties  of  such  a 
theory,  obvious  enough  when  ap- 
plied to  so  simple  a  puberty  ordeal  as 
that  of  the  perforation  of  the  septum 
or  the  evulsion  of  teeth,  are  redoubled 
when  the  theory  is  offered  as  the  ex- 
planation of  so  widespread  a  custom 
as  circumcision,  or  the  remarkable 
Australian  rite  of  subincision.  At 
the  present  time  the  latter  certainly 
has  no  decorative  purpose,  nor  is 
there  any  reason  to  suppose  such  a 
purpose  at  an  earher  period.  The 
effect  of  the  operation  is  not  readily 
apparent  and  the  incision  itself  is 
not  visible  (Dr.  Stirling  in  Report 
on  the  Work  of  the  Horn  Scientific 
Expedition  to  Central  Australia  (Lon- 
don, 1896,  part  iv,  33).  Wester- 
marck's  theory  applies  with  more 
reason  to  the  puberty  ordeals  of 
scarification  and  tattooing.  But  it 
is  most  probable  that  in  all  these 
puberty  mutilations  the  ornamental 
aspects  are  largely  derivative.  What- 
ever serves  as  a  badge  of  admis- 


38  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Almost  universally  initiation  rites  include  a  mimic  rep- 
resentation of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  novice. 
The  new  life  to  which  he  awakes  after  initiation  is  one 
utterly  forgetful  of  the  old;  a  new  name,  a  new  language, 
and  new  privileges  are  its  natural  accompaniments.  A  few 
significant  examples  may  be  cited.  Novices  of  the  Koom- 
banggary  tribe  of  New  South  Wales  have  the  hair  singed  off 
their  heads  ^^to  make  the  women  believe  that  they  have  been 
burnt  by  the  evil  spirit  and  have  just  emerged  from  the 
fire."  ^  In  the  Qatu  initiations  of  the  natives  of 

Northern  New  Hebrides,  neophytes  are  placed  in  enclosures 
where  they  remain  unwashed  and  with  very  little  food  and 
water  for  sometimes  thirty  days.  "  For  a  woman  to  see  the 
newly  initiated  until  they  have  returned  to  ordinary  life 
is  a  mortal  offence.  They  come  out  black  with  dirt  and 
soot,  and  are  not  to  be  seen  till  they  have  washed."  ^ 
The  Susus  say  that  when  the  boys  are  first  initiated 
their  throats  are  cut  and  that  they  continue  dead  for  some 
time.  When  at  length  they  are  reanimated  they  are  able  to 
go  about  with  much  more  vigor  than  before.  ^  Just  before 
the  boys  are  removed  from  their  seclusion  in  the  Poro  bush, 
the  Poro  "devil"  perambulates  the  town  during  the  evening, 
blowing  his  red  flute  in  a  most  doleful  fashion,  "the  meaning 
of  it  being  that  he  is  presumed  to  be  in  the  pains  before 


sion  into  the  ranks  of  men  will 
naturally  become  the  object  of  high 
regard  and  develop  ornamental 
aspects  accordingly.  Similarly  it 
may  be  pointed  out  that  the 
sacrificial  and  hygienic  aspects  of 
circumcision,  however  prominent  in 
the  later  development  of  the  rite 
among  barbarous  peoples,  are  un- 
questionably as  foreign  to  the  most 
primitive  practice  as  is  its  perform- 
ance in  early  infancy.  On  the  origin 
and  extension  of  the  practice  of  cir- 
cumcision, see  in  addition  to  the  refer- 
ences cited,  Andree,  Ethnogr aphis che 
Parallelen  und  Vergleiche^  second 
series  (Leipzig,  1889),  166-212; 
Jacobs  in  Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr. , 


iv  (1891),  185-201,  244-255;  Frazer, 
in  Independent  Rev.,  iv  (1904),  204- 
218;  Lafargue  in  Bull.  Soc.  d'An- 
thropologie  de  Paris,  third  series, 
X  (1887),  420-436;  Bergmann  in 
Archivio  per  lo  Studio  delle  Tradi- 
zioni  Popolari,  ii  (1883),  271-293, 
329-344. 

^  Mathews  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
Soc.y  XXX vii  (1898),  65.  Cf.  also 
Helms  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc.  New 
South  WaleSy  second  series,  x  (1895), 
390- 

^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  87; 
for  the  similar  Qeta  rites,  ihid.,  92-93. 

^  Winterbottom,  Native  Africans 
in  the  Neighborhood  of  Sierra  Leone, 
h  139- 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


39 


child-birth,  for,  when  the  boys  go  first  into  the  Poro  bush,  the 
devil  is  supposed  to  be  pregnant,  and,  .  .  .  when  they 
come  out  of  it,  the  devil  is  said  to  have  given  birth."  ^  Can- 
didates undergoing  the  Ndembo  rites  in  the  vela^  or  place 
of  seclusion,  are  believed  "to  decompose  and  decay,  until 
but  one  bone  of  each  novice  is  left  in  charge  of  the  doctor/'  ^ 
Among  the  Bondei  of  German  East  Africa  there  are  various 
ceremonies,  by  which  the  death  of  the  novice  and  his  visit 
to  the  lower  regions  are  represented.^  The  simula- 

tion of  death  and  resurrection  is  well  carried  out  in  the  in- 
itiatory rites  of  the  Kakian  society  of  Ceram.  These  take 
place  in  the  lodge  of  the  organization  which  also  serves  as 
the  mysterious  abode  of  the  Nitu  Elak  under  which  name 
the  first  ancestor  of  the  tribe  is  worshipped.  Before  leaving 
the  village  for  the  Kakian  house  the  novices  take  last  fare- 
well of  their  female  relatives  and  sweethearts.  They  do 
not  expect  to  see  them  again,  for  they  are  told  by  the  priests 
of  the  society  that  Nitu  Elak  will  take  the  nitu  (spirit)  out 
of  their  bodies,  only  to  restore  it  after  the  priests  have  prayed 
the  god  long  and  fervently.  In  the  lodge  which  is  kept 
perfectly  dark,  their  blindfolding  is  removed  and  they  are 
then  tattooed  and  smeared  with  powder.  The  boys  sit 
on  benches  crossways  with  their  hands  in  the  air  as  if  they 
were  about  to  receive  something.  The  priests  then  take 
a  bamboo  flute,  the  lower  part  of  which  they  put  in  the 
hands  of  the  boys  and  shout  through  the  instrument  all 
sorts  of  noises  imitating  the  voice  of  the  Nitu  Elak,  The 
novices  are  threatened  with  death  unless  they  fulfil  all  the 
duties  of  membership  and  keep  everything  that  happens  in 
the  lodge  a  secret  from  the  uninitiated.  Before  they  leave 
the  lodge,  the  priests  give  the  boys  a  stick  ornamented  with 
rooster  and  cassowary  feathers  as  a  certificate  from  the  Nitu, 
On  their  return  to  the  village  they  are  required  to  fast  for 
three  days  and  for  a  long  time  they  must  act  as  if  still  pos- 
sessed by  the  Nitu,    They  may  not  speak,  their  walk  is 

^  Alldridge,  The  Sherhro  and  its  ^  Dale  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
Hinterland,  130.  xxv  (1896),  189. 

^  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the  Congo, 
i,  286. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


wobbly  and  uncertain,  and  their  actions  in  general  betoken 
those  of  madmen.^ 

In  some  cases  it  is  possible  that  the  neophytes  are  really 
hypnotized  into  believing  that  they  have  died  and  come  to 
life  again.  In  any  event  the  simulation  is  usually  very  well 
carried  out.  Eyre  noticed  that  the  Murray  River  boys  from 
the  time  of  being  seized,  closed  their  eyes  and  pretended  to  be 
in  a  deep  trance  until  the  process  of  depilation  was  over.^ 
Among  the  Kwakiutl  tribes  of  British  Columbia,  a  novice 
who  is  taking  the  Hamatsa  degree  "feigns  to  have  forgotten 
the  ordinary  ways  of  man,  and  has  to  learn  everything 
anew. 

The  new  name  acquired  by  the  novice  at  the  close  of 
initiation  is,  of  course,  a  part  of  the  general  dramatic  features 
of  the  ceremonies.  It  forms  a  lasting  reminder  of  the  great 
change  which  has  come  over  him.  Such  a  name  is  usually 
secret,  knowledge  of  it  being  confined  to  the  initiated  men 
of  the  tribe.  The  secret  name  of  an  Arunta  native  is  known 
only  to  the  fully  initiated  men  of  his  own  local  group.  It  is 
never  uttered  except  during  the  solemn  ceremony  of  ex- 
amining the  sacred  Churinga  at  the  initiation  rites. ^  When 
boys  of  the  Dippil  tribes  of  Queensland  receive  their  new 
names,  there  is  a  special  ceremony  to  impress  the  sacredness 
of  these  upon  them.  Some  of  the  elders  secrete  themselves 
in  the  tops  of  trees  and  as  the  new  names  are  pronounced, 
all  the  men  in  charge  of  the  boys  utter  a  great  shout  which  is 
answered  by  those  in  the  tree-tops,  "giving  the  novices  the 
impression  that  ancestral  spirits  are  hovering  about  in  the 
air."  ^  Among  the  Queensland  tribes  studied  by  Mr.  Roth, 
the  lad  gets  his  individual  personal  name  only  after  cir- 
cumcision. Then  he  may  wear,  as  a  full-fledged  yuppieriy 
the  grass  necklace,  human-hair  waist-belt,  and  the  opossum- 
string  phallo-crypt  which  belongs  to  a  man.^    Other  typical 


^  Riedel,  De  Sluik-en  Kroesharige 
Rassen  tusschen  Selehes  en  Papua, 
109-110. 

^  Journals  of  Expeditions  of  Dis- 
covery into  Central  Australia,  ii,  337. 

^  Boas  in  Report  U.  S.  National 
Museum  for  iSgj,  538. 


^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  op.  cit.,  139, 
637- 

^  Mathews  in  Amer.  Anthropolo- 
gist, new  series,  ii  (1900),  144. 
^  Ethnological  Studies,  171. 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


41 


Australian  examples  of  the  new  name  are  furnished  by  the 
Wiradthuri  of  New  South  Wales/  and  the  Dieri  of  South 
Australia.^  A  candidate  for    initiation   into  the 

Dukduk  of  New  Pomerania  received  a  new  name  at  the  con- 
clusion of  an  ordeal  well  calculated  to  shake  the  stoutest 
nerves.  The  lad  was  conducted  to  a  hut  in  the  distant 
bush  and  was  there  left  in  solitude  for  several  days.  For 
the  first  day  of  his  seclusion  he  was  allowed  to  eat  whatever 
articles  of  food  he  wished  —  only  what  he  then  ate  was  to 
be  tabooed  to  him  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  During 
the  following  days  he  must  go  without  food  and  water. 
Even  sleep  was  denied  him.  When  the  strain  became  al- 
most unbearable,  the  Dukduk  messenger  suddenly  appeared 
before  the  hut.  If  the  lad  was  found  to  have  bravely  borne 
his  torments,  he  was  made  a  probationer  and  was  given  a 
new  name.  He  must  now  return  to  his  home,  tell  no  one 
of  what  he  had  gone  through,  must  avoid  his  childhood 
friends,  and  await  patiently  the  coming  of  the  Dukduk  to 
the  village,  when  at  length  he  would  be  admitted  to  the  or- 
ganization.^ In  the  secret  societies  of  the  New 
Hebrides,  candidates  receive  a  new  name,^  and  the  same 
is  true  of  most  African  societies.^  "It  is  a  terrible  way  of 
teasing  a  Wayao  to  point  to  a  little  boy,  and  ask  if  he  re- 
members what  was  his  name  when  he  was  about  the  size 
of  that  boy.  Some  would  not  mention  their  old  name  on 
any  consideration.''  ^  The  Konkau,  a  branch  of 
the  Maidu  Indians  of  Northern  California,  have  a  tribal 
society  called  Kumeh,  or  "Order  of  Manhood."  At  his 
puberty  initiation  the  lad  receives  a  new  name,  generally 
that  of  his  father  or  some  other  near  relative.^ 

A  new  language  is  closely  associated  with  a  new  name. 


^  Mathews  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  XXV  (1896),  310. 

^  Gason  in  Native  Tribes  of  South 
Australia,  269. 

^  Churchill  in  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  xxxviii  (1890),  239-241. 

^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  87. 

^  Cf.  the  Purrah  ceremonies  of 
the   Sierra  Leone   tribes  (Winter- 


bottom,  op.  cit.,  i,  135;  Alldridge, 
op.  cit.,  125),  and  the  Ndemho  rites 
of  the  Congo  natives  (Bentley,  Dic- 
tionary and  Grammar  of  the  Kongo 
Language,  506). 

^  Macdonald,  Africana,  i,  128. 

^  Powers  in  Contributions  to  North 
American  Ethnology,  iii  (Washing- 
ton, 1877),  305-306. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


The  possession  of  an  esoteric  speech  known  only  to  initiated 
members  is  highly  useful  as  lending  an  additional  mystery 
to  the  proceedings.  Australian  novices  learn  a  secret 
speech  which  is  never  used  in  the  presence  of  women  or 
uninitiated  youths.  Short  sentences  of  general  utility, 
names  for  the  common  objects  of  everyday  life,  for  the  various 
animals  and  plants,  and  for  the  parts  of  the  human  body, 
make  up  a  dialect,  knowledge  of  which  may  sometimes  be 
of  real  service  in  determining  whether  a  stranger  is  an  in- 
itiated tribesman.^  The  songs  chanted  at  the  Dukduk  lodge 
are  in  ^*an  unknown  tongue,'^  ^  The  secret  language  taught 
the  Nkimba  novices  is  fairly  well  formed,  many  of  the  words 
being  obvious  modifications  of  the  Congo  dialects ;  ^  and 
others  possibly  archaic  Bantu. ^  The  Ndemho  secret  vo- 
cabulary is,  however,  small  and  feeble.^  Initiates  of  Mu- 
kukuy  a  Kamerun  society,  learn  another  speech,^  and  the 
same  is  true  of  the  well-known  Mumbo  Jumbo  order. 
The  Carib  Islanders  appear  to  have  developed  a  some- 
what intricate  system  of  distinct  and  independent  vocabu- 
laries. Of  these  one  was  used  by  men,  and  by  women 
when  speaking  to  their  husbands,  but  never  among  them- 
selves; a  second  vocabulary  with  certain  grammatical  forms 
was  proper  to  the  women,  and  this  in  turn  was  never  employed 
by  the  men  save  when  occasion  arose  of  repeating  verbatim 
some  statement  of  their  wives.  A  third  and  secret  speech 
was  known  only  to  the  warriors  and  elders.  Into  this  lan- 
guage, used  principally  at  the  tribal  assemblies,  the  women 
and  young  men  were  not  initiated.^  Among  the  Guaycurus 
of  Brazil  and  other  South  American  tribes  the  speech  of 


^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxii  (1898), 
250;  id. J  Proc.  Amer.  Philos.  Soc., 
xlii  (1903),  259;  xxxix  (1900),  629  sq.; 
Enright  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  xxxiii  (1899),  120. 

^  Churchill  in  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  xxxviii  (1890),  242. 

^  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the  Congo, 
i,  282. 

^  Ward,  Five  Years  with  the  Congo 
Cannibals,  57. 


^  Bentley,  op.  cit.,  i,  286. 

^  Buchner,  Kamerun,  28. 

^  Moore,  Travels  into  the  Inland 
Parts  of  Africa,  40. 

^  R.  P.  Labat,  Nouveau  Voyage 
aux  lies  de  VAmerique  (Paris,  1742), 
vi,  127-128;  Lucien  Adam,  Du 
Parler  des  Hommes  et  du  Parler  des 
Femmes  dans  la  Langue  Caraibe 
(Paris,  1879);  Sapper  in  Intern. 
Archiv  f.  Ethnogr.,  x    (1897),  56 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


43 


the  women  was  wholly  or  in  part  unlike  that  of  the  men.^ 
In  the  magical  societies  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
the  ritualistic  use  of  an  archaic  dialect  is  common. 
Though  of  course  unintelligible,  both  to  initiated  and  un- 
initiated, the  shamans  delight  to  employ  it  during  cere- 
monials "not  only  to  impress  their  hearers,  but  to  elevate 
themselves  as  well."  ^  In  the  prayer-songs  of  the  Sania- 
kiakwey  or  Hunting  Order  of  the  Zuni,  the  names  of  the 
sacred  prey-gods  whose  fetishes  are  kept  by  the  society,  are 
given,  for  the  sake  of  unintelligibility,  in  the  language  of  the 
Rio  Grande  Indians.^  Where,  as  with  the  Eskimos  and 
Dakotas,  careful  linguistic  examination  has  been  made  of 
these  esoteric  dialects,  it  has  been  found  that  they  are  usually 
the  ordinary  speech  modified  by  an  unusual  accentuation, 
the  introduction  of  figurative  and  symbolic  expressions,  and 
the  addition  of  archaic  words  and  phrases.^ 

After  their  long  initiatory  seclusion,  the  boys  are  led  back 
to  the  tribe  and  invested  with  the  proper  belongings  of  men. 
Elaborate  festivities  then  take  place  and  the  newly  made 
tribesmen  in  all  their  finery  become  the  objects  of  much 
attention  from  the  women  —  their  mothers  and  the  mar- 
riageable girls.  At  such  a  time  much  license,  especially  in 
sexual  matters,  is  accorded  the  novices  and  a  period  of  almost 
indiscriminate  cohabitation,  followed  usually  by  marriage, 
sets  in.^  The  initiatory  seclusion  and  ordeals  are  accord- 
ingly highly  significant  as  constituting  the  indispensable 
preliminary  to  all  participation  in  sexual  relations.  When 
marriage  is  the  usual  accompaniment  of  the  attainment  of 
puberty,  initiation  thus  becomes  the  visible  token  of  arrival 
at  sexual  maturity,  and  adds  immensely  to  the  importance 
of  the  initiates  who  are  now  about  to  look  for  wives.  Some- 


^  C.  F.  P.  V.  Martius,  Beitrdge  zur 
Ethnographie  und  Sprachenkunde 
Amerika^s  zumal  Brasiliens  (Leipzig, 
1867),  i,  106-107. 

^  Hoffman  in  Fourteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.,  61;  cf.  Seventh 
Ann.  Rep.,  164,  187,  227. 

^  Gushing  in  Second  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.j  20. 


^  Brinton,  The  Myths  of  the  New 
World  (New  York,  1868),  285;  Boas 
in  Sixth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  EthnoL,  594. 

^  For  some  illustrations :  Helms  in 
Proc.  Linnean  Soc.  New  South  Wales, 
second  series,  x  (1895),  391;  Taplin 
in  The  Native  Tribes  of  South  Aus- 
tralia, 18;  Fritsch,  Die  Eingeborenen 
Sild-Afrika^s,  109. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


times  special  efforts  are  made  to  heighten  the  sexual  attrac- 
tiveness of  the  young  men.  At  Tud,  one  of  the  Torres 
Straits  Group,  after  the  month  of  probation  following  in- 
itiation, the  lad  having  been  thoroughly  washed  and  oiled, 
was  decorated  with  the  head-dress  of  cassowary  feathers 
and  with  other  articles  of  native  luxury.  A  skewer-like 
ornament  was  passed  through  his  septum  and  two  large 
seeds  were  placed  inside  his  cheeks  to  make  them  bulge  out. 
Lastly  his  body  was  carefully  anointed  with  "girl  medicine" 
which  was  credited  with  the  property  of  exciting  the  girls. 
Thus,  according  to  the  native  account  they  ^'made  him 
flash  —  flash  like  hell  that  boy."  ^  The  dances 

which  African  novices  learn  during  their  seclusion  and 
afterwards  exhibit  in  the  neighboring  villages  are  usually 
designed  to  promote  their  attractiveness  in  marriage.  Ama- 
xosa  boys  while  in  seclusion  are  called  collectively  Abak- 
weta.  After  their  wounds  have  healed  and  the  white  clay  ^ 
has  been  washed  from  their  bodies,  the  Abakweta  are  taken 
to  the  village  where  they  perform  their  dances  with  the  aid 
of  the  unmarried  girls. ^    Susu  boys  of  the  Soudan,  after 


*  Haddon  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xix  (1890),  412. 

^  The  use  of  some  substance, 
usually  white  clay,  with  which  the 
novices  are  daubed  over  face  and  body, 
is  common  throughout  Australia  and 
Africa.  Doubtless  some  obscure  con- 
nection exists  here  with  the  death 
and  resurrection  ideas.  Pipe-clay 
is  often  employed  by  the  Australians 
as  a  sign  of  mourning  for  the  dead 
(Etheridge  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  new  series,  xiv 
(1899),  333  sq.;  Spencer  and  Gillen, 
op.  cit.,  136).  Moreover,  there  is  the 
widespread  belief  that  after  death  the 
bodies  of  the  natives  become  white. 
The  Australian  name  for  a  white 
man  is  wunda,  an  expression  orig- 
inally applied  to  the  black  man  in 
his  spirit  state  after  death  (Eraser 
in  Jour,  of  Trans.  Victoria  Inst.,  xxii, 
1889,  169).  For  examples  of  the 
use  of  white  clay  or  white  pigment 


among  South  African  tribes,  cf. 
Fritsch,  op.  cit.,  109;  Macdonald 
in  Revue  Scientifique,  third  series, 
xlv  (1890),  643;  among  the  Wagogo 
of  German  East  Africa,  Cole  in 
Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii  (1902), 
308;  and  among  the  Kamerun 
tribes,  Buchner,  Kamerun,  27.  At 
Tud,  boys  undergoing  initiation  were 
painted  every  day  with  charcoal,  the 
avowed  object  being  to  render  the 
skin  paler  (Haddon  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xix,  1890,  410).  The  Pow- 
hatan Indians,  according  to  Captain 
John  Smith's  account,  painted  the 
boys  undergoing  ^'huskanawing" 
white  (Beverley,  History  of  Virginia, 
175).  Omaha  lads  about  to  begin 
their  initiatory  fasts  smear  them- 
selves with  white  clay,  and  then  retire 
from  the  camp  for  their  solitary  vigils 
(Dorsey  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.,  266). 

^  Fritsch,  op.  cit.,  109. 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


45 


initiation,  go  about  from  town  to  town  begging  and  dancing, 
and  as  their  importance  is  now  greatly  increased,  they  soon 
get  wives. ^  Similar  customs  prevail  among  the  Mandin- 
goes,^  and  the  Bondei  of  German  East  Africa.^ 

The  various  ceremonies  which  take  place  on  the  arrival 
of  girls  at  puberty  are  distinctly  less  impressive  than  those  of 
the  boys.  As  a  rule  there  is  no  attempt  at  a  formal  initiation, 
possessing  tribal  aspects  and  secret  rites.  The  girl  at  puberty 
remains  in  seclusion  usually  alone  or  attended  by  her  female 
relations,  until  her  first  ordeal  has  been  successfully  passed.^ 
In  some  cases,  however,  ceremonies  of  a  more  important 
nature  develop.  With  the  Central  Australian  Arunta  the 
initiatory  rites  which  must  be  undergone  by  every  girl  are 
clearly  the  equivalent  of  the  first  two  operations  performed 
on  the  boys  and  betray  the  same  purpose.^  Among  the 
Queensland  tribes  the  initiatory  rites,  here  divided  into  four 
clearly  defined  stages,  may  be  taken  by  both  men  and 
women. ^  A  number  of  the  African  tribes  initiate  the  girls 
with  ceremonies  quite  as  elaborate  and  important  as  are 
those  of  the  boys,  on  which  they  are  obviously  modelled. 
Thus  the  Boyale  of  the  Bechuana  maidens  is  the  counterpart 
of  the  boys'  Boguera  ^  and  the  Kiwanga  of  the  Bondei  girls 
corresponds  closely  to  the  Galo  of  the  boys.^  Other  illus- 
trations are  to  be  found  in  the  Gold  Coast  Colony,^  among 
the  Mpongwe,  and  among  the  Vey  peoples  of  Liberia. Vey 
girls  go  into  the  "gree-gree  bush"  when  ten  years  old  and 
even  earlier,  and  remain  there  under  charge  of  instructors 


^  Winterbottom,  op.  cit.,  i,  138. 

^  Park,  Travels  in  the  Interior 
Districts  of  Africa,  i,  396;  Gray  and 
Dochard,  Travels  in  Western  Africa, 
383. 

^  Dale  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
XXV  (1896),  192. 

^  Dr.  Frazer  has  given  many 
illustrations  of  the  practice  of  isolat- 
ing girls  at  puberty  {The  Golden 
Bough,  London,  1900,  iii,  204-233) ; 
cf.  also,  Bastian,  Inselgruppen  in 
Oceanien,  xiii-xxi. 

^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  op.  cit.,  92 


sq.,  269;  see  also,  Northern  Tribes 
of  Central  Australia,  133  sq. 

^  Roth,  Ethnological  Studies,  169. 

^  Fritsch,  Die  Eingeborenen  Siid- 
Afrika^s,  207;  Livingstone,  Mis- 
sionary Travels,  167;  Casalis,  Les 
Bassoutos,  283  sq. 

^  Dale  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
XXV  (1896),  193-194. 

^  Kemp,  Nine  Years  at  the  Gold 
Coast,  165  sq. 

Reade,  Savage  Africa,  208. 

"  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore,  ix  (1896), 
220-221. 


46  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


who  are  the  oldest  women  in  the  village,  until  of  marriage- 
able age.  Various  womanly  duties  —  the  care  of  children, 
cooking,  making  of  nets  —  besides  dances,  games,  and  songs 
are  taught  them.  Nor  does  this  training  in  seclusion  omit 
those  darker  rites  which  seem  to  be  its  almost  invariable 
accompaniment,  especially  among  African  peoples. 

In  the  effort  to  discover  the  significance  of  primitive 
puberty  rites,  several  theories  of  their  origin  have  been 
proposed.  Dr.  Frazer,  who  has  discussed  with  a  wealth 
of  illustrations  the  new-birth  ideas  so  characteristic  of  these 
mysteries,  ^  argues  that  they  are  primarily  intended  to  effect 
the  assimilation  of  the  youth  to  his  totem.  The  latter  "is 
simply  the  receptacle  in  which  a  man  keeps  his  life."  ^  In- 
itiation rites,  with  their  mimic  representation  of  the  death 
and  revival  of  the  novice,  "  become  intelligible  if  we  suppose 
that  their  substance  consists  in  extracting  the  youth's  soul 
in  order  to  transfer  it  to  his  totem.  For  the  extraction  of 
his  soul  would  naturally  be  supposed  to  kill  the  youth  or  at 
least  to  throw  him  into  a  death-like  trance,  which  the  savage 
hardly  distinguishes  from  death.  His  recovery  would  then 
be  attributed  either  to  the  gradual  recovery  of  his  system 
from  the  violent  shock  which  it  had  received,  or,  more 
probably,  to  the  infusion  into  him  of  fresh  life  drawn  from 
the  totem."  ^  This  theory  of  the  connection  of  the  totem 
with  the  individuals  of  a  totemic  clan,  has  been  criticised 
adversely  by  Professor  Tylor,^  and  Messrs.  Spencer  and 
Gillen  conclude  that  there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  to  war- 
rant its  application  to  Australian  totemism.^  According 
to  the  more  general  theory  of  Frobenius,  seclusion,  abstinence 
from  food  and  sexual  intercourse,  the  simulation  of  death 
and  resurrection,  the  use  of  a  secret  language,  and  the  as- 
sumption of  a  new  name,  are  all  intimately  connected  with 
a  primitive  effort  to  assimilate  the  novices  to  the  condition 
of  spirits.  When,  as  especially  in  the  African  conceptions, 
the  dead  are  considered  as  exercising  much  power  over  the 

^  The  Golden    Bough   (London,  ^  Ibid.,  422. 


1900),  iii,  422-445;  Totemism  (Edm- 
burgh,  1887),  38-51. 

^  The  Golden  Bough,  iii,  418. 


^  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxviii 
(1898),  145  sq. 

^  I  hid.,  xxviii  (1899),  280. 


THE  SECRET  RITES 


47 


living,  there  will  exist  a  natural  desire  to  assimilate  one's  self 
as  much  as  possible  to  the  condition  of  spirits  and  to  become 
^^totengleich''  or  "geistergleich"  in  order  that  the  spiritual 
power  appertaining  to  the  dead  may  be  obtained.  Puberty 
rites  originate  in  a  period  when  manes  worship,  totemism, 
and  ancestor  cults  prevail,  and  their  significance  is  thus  pri- 
marily religious  rather  than  social.^  Mr.  Crawley,  unfolding 
his  theory  of  sexual  taboo,  considers  all  puberty  ceremonies 
of  both  sexes  as  originally  the  outcome  of  certain  very  prim- 
itive ideas  of  contagion,  regarded  by  the  savage  mind  as 
especially  threatening  at  such  a  great  functional  crisis  as 
puberty  constitutes.  As  all  persons  of  one  sex  are  poten- 
tially dangerous  to  those  of  the  other  —  sexual  taboo  — 
the  primitive  mind  sees  in  the  apparent  abnormality  of 
certain  sexual  functions,  confirmation  of  this  sense  of  danger, 
and  naturally  takes  measures  to  avoid  impending  evil  by 
secluding  those  who  are  in  a  condition  to  be  harmful.^ 
No  doubt  various  beliefs  arising  from  many  different 
sources  have  united  to  establish  the  necessity  of  secluding 
boys  and  girls  at  puberty.  Isolation  from  the  things  of 
flesh  and  sense  has  been  a  device  not  infrequently  employed 
by  people  of  advanced  culture  for  the  furtherance  of  spirit- 
ual life,  and  we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  uncivilized 
man  resorting  to  similar  devices  for  more  practical  purposes. 
The  long  fasts,  the  deprivation  of  sleep,  the  constant  excite- 
ment of  the  new  and  unexpected,  the  nervous  reaction  under 
long-continued  torments,  result  in  a  condition  of  extreme 
sensitiveness  —  hypercesthesia  —  which  is  certainly  favor- 
able to  the  reception  of  impressions  that  will  be  indelible. 
The  lessons  learned  in  such  a  tribal  school  as  the  puberty 


^  Aus  den  Flegeljahren  der  Mensch- 
heit  (Hannover,  1901),  150,  164; 
^'Die  Masken  und  Geheimbiinde 
Afrikas,"  in  Ahhandl.  Kaiserlichen 
Leopoldinisch-Carolinischen  Deuts. 
Akad.  der  Naturforscher,  Ixxiv  (Halle, 
1899),  214 

^  The  Mystic  Rose  (London,  1902), 
29  sq.  See  also  215-223,  270-314. 
Other  interesting  theories  of  the  origin 


of  sexual  taboo  and  of  its  connection 
with  initiation  ceremonies  are  devel- 
oped in  the  posthumous  work  by  J.  J. 
Atkinson,  Primal  Law  (London, 
1903),  and  in  a  suggestive  paper 
curiously  anticipating  some  of  Mr. 
Atkinson's  conclusions,  by  Ludwig 
Krzyurcki,  Some  Notes  on  the  Primi- 
tive Horde,''  in  International  Folk-Lore 
Congress  (Chicago,  1898),  199-205. 


48  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


institution  constitutes,  abide  through  Hfe.  Another  obvious 
motive  dictating  a  period  of  seclusion  is  found  in  the  wisdom 
of  entirely  separating  the  youth  at  puberty  from  the  w^omen 
until  lessons  of  sexual  restraint  have  been  learned.  New 
Guinea  natives,  for  instance,  say  that  "when  boys  reach  the 
age  of  puberty,  they  ought  not  to  be  exposed  to  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  lest  they  suffer  thereby;  they  must  not  do  heavy 
manual  work,  or  their  physical  development  will  be  stopped, 
all  possibility  of  mixing  with  females  must  be  avoided,  lest 
they  become  immoral,  or  illegitimacy  become  common  in 
the  tribe/'  ^  Where  the  men's  house  is  found  in  a  tribal 
community,  this  institution  frequently  serves  to  prolong  the 
seclusion  of  the  younger  initiated  men  for  many  years  after 
puberty  is  reached.^ 


^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  421. 

^  Puberty  ordeals  for  both  sexes, 
both  connected  and  unconnected  with 
secret  initiatory  rites,  have  been 
discussed  by  a  number  of  writers. 
Among  the  more  important  references 
are  Ploss,  Das  Kind,  ii,  41 1-45 1; 
Schurtz,  Alter sklas sen  und  Mdnner- 
hiinde,  95-110;  Bastian,  Rechtsver- 
hdltnisse,  331  sq.;  Hall,  Adolescence, 
ii,  232-249;  Marro,  La  Puberta, 
xi-xxxii ;  Kulischer  in  Zeits.f.  EthnoL, 
XV  (1883),  195-203 ;  Daniels  in  Amer. 
Jour.  Psychology,  vi  (1893),  61-103. 

There  is  some  evidence  for  the 
existence  among  races  just  rising  into 
civilization  of  puberty  ceremonies 
which  betray  close  kinship  to  those 
of  existing  primitive  peoples.  The 


Spartan  military  training  with  its 
numerous  ordeals,  its  organization  of 
the  youth  in  companies  under  charge 
of  an  instructor,  and  its  o-va-o-LTia, 
or  public  messes,  for  the  men  over 
twenty,  affords  striking  resemblance 
to  the  arrangements  of  less  famous 
peoples.  A  convenient  summary  with 
accompanying  references  to  recent 
studies  in  the  details  of  the  education 
of  pubescent  and.  adolescent  boys 
in  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  is 
given  in  Hall,  Adolescence  (New 
York,  1904),  ii,  249-260.  See  also 
Schurtz,  Alter  sklas  sen  und  Mdnner- 
biinde,  1 10-124.  The  older  dis- 
cussion by  Lafitau,  Mceurs  des 
Sauvages  Ameriquains  (Paris,  1724), 
i,  265  sq.,  is  not  without  value. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  NOVICE 

Amid  the  many  puerilities  accompanying  the  course  of 
instruction  in  these  tribal  seminaries,  we  certainly  find  much 
that  is  of  practical  value  to  the  novices,  much  that  is  truly 
moral,  much  that  evinces  a  conscientious  purpose  to  fit 
them  for  the  serious  duties  of  life.  This  instruction  is  im- 
parted during  the  seclusion  of  the  candidates,  a  period  which 
may  last  for  months  and  even  in  some  instances  for  years. 

Obedience  to  the  elders  or  the  tribal  chiefs,  bravery  in 
battle,  liberality  towards  the  community,  independence  of 
maternal  control,  steadfast  attachment  to  the  traditional 
customs  and  the  established  moral  code,  are  social  virtues 
of  the  highest  importance  in  rude  communities.  Savage 
ingenuity  exhausts  itself  in  devising  ways  and  means  for 
exhibiting  these  virtues  in  an  effective  manner  to  the  young 
men  so  soon  to  take  their  place  as  members  of  the  tribe. 
Some  of  the  initiatory  performances  are  even  of  a  panto- 
mimic nature  intended  to  teach  the  novices  in  a  most  vivid 
fashion  what  things  they  must  in  future  avoid.  In  this 
respect  the  rites  are  often  equivalent  to  an  impressive  mo- 
rality play.  At  the  Kuringal  of  the  Coast  Murring,  an 
Australian  tribe,  such  performances  have  at  first  sight  a  very 
immoral  appearance,  being  presented  apparently  on  the 
principle  of  similia  similibus  curantur.  The  kabos^  or  guar- 
dians, talk  to  each  other  in  inverted  language  so  that  the  real 
meaning  of  their  words  is  just  the  opposite  of  what  they  say. 
The  lads  are  told  that  this  is  to  teach  them  to  speak  the 
straightforward  truth.  Various  offences  against  morality 
are  exhibited  and  the  guardians  warn  the  novices  of  their 
death  or  of  violence,  should  they  attempt  to  repeat  the  actions 

E  49 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


they  have  just  witnessed.^  At  the  Kamilaroi  Bora  there 
would  be  '^many  obscene  gestures  for  the  purpose  of  shock- 
ing the  young  fellows;  and  if  the  latter  had  shown  the  least 
sign  of  mirth  or  frivolity,  they  would  have  been  hit  over  the 
head  with  a  nullah  nullah  by  an  old  man  appointed  to  watch 
them."  ^  Some  of  these  Australian  performances,  it  is  true, 
are  made  at  the  expense  of  the  novices  and  are  designed 
merely  to  provide  amusement  to  the  spectators  —  features 
which  seem  to  be  retained  and  developed  in  the  initiatory 
rites  of  much  more  highly  civilized  peoples. 

The  instruction  received  by  the  candidates  during  their 
initiatory  seclusion  covers  a  wide  range  of  topics.  Among 
the  Australians  it  is  at  this  period  that  the  very  complicated 
laws  relating  to  class  and  totemic  divisions  on  which  the 
marriage  system  rests,  are  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
novices.  During  their  stay  in  the  bush.  Port  Stephens  boys 
"are  taught  the  sacred  songs  of  the  tribes  and  the  laws  re- 
lating to  the  class  system.''  ^  At  a  recent  Bora  of  some  New 
South  Wales  tribes,  the  old  men  showed  the  novices  ''how 
to  play  the  native  games,  to  sing  the  songs  of  the  tribe,  and 
to  dance  certain  corroborees  which  neither  the  gins  nor  the 


^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  444-449;  Native 
Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  532 
sq.  For  similar  devices  of  the  Queens- 
land tribes,  see  Mathews  in  Amer.  An- 
thropologist, new  series,  ii  (1900),  140. 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxviii  (1894), 
121;  cf.  id.,  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
Soc.,  xxxix  (1900),  632  (Narrinyeri 
and  Booandik  tribes).  For  the  antics 
of  the  old  men  at  the  Fijian  Nanga, 
cf.  Joske  in  Intern.  Archiv f.  Ethnogr., 
ii  (1889),  265. 

Some  of  the  phallic  observances 
common  to  other  rites  need  to  be 
interpreted  from  this  primitive  point 
of  view.  There  is,  for  instance, 
slight  evidence  of  phallic  worship  in 
the  stricter  sense  among  the  Austra- 
lian natives.  But  remembering  that 
the  ceremonies  of  initiation  are  in- 
tended primarily  as  a  preparation  for 


marriage,  we  shall  not  be  surprised  to 
find  much  instruction  in  sexual  mat- 
ters, conveyed  sometimes  in  a  most 
direct  and  startling  fashion.  See  the 
illustrations  of  the  drawings  and 
images  at  a  Queensland  Bora,  as  given 
by  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Trans.  Vic- 
toria Inst.,  xxxiii  (1901),  297  sq.; 
id.,  Amer.  Anthropologist,  iii  (1901), 
340.  Among  Angola  natives  the  path 
to  the  enclosure  where  the  boys  are 
confined  is  marked  by  a  number  of 
large  figures  of  clay,  straw,  or  carved 
wood,  which  are  always  of  a  phallic 
character  (Monteiro,  Angola  and  the 
River  Congo,  i,  278).  Phallic  em- 
blems are  frequently  carved  on  the 
doors  of  the  Oghoni  lodges  (Ellis, 
Yoruba-S peaking  Peoples,  95). 

^  Enright  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxiii  (1899), 
120.  Cf.  Mathews,  ibid.,  xxxii  (1898), 
249. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  NOVICE  51 

uninitiated  are  permitted  to  learn.  They  were  also  in- 
structed in  the  sacred  traditions  and  lore  of  the  tribe;  to 
show  respect  to  the  old  men;  and  not  to  interfere  with  un- 
protected women/^  ^  In  the  Buckli  rites  common  to  all 
the  tribes  of  Northwestern  Australia,  the  elders  teach  the 
boys  the  laws  and  traditions  of  the  tribe,  the  boundaries 
of  the  tribal  territory,  and  the  reasons  for  the  feuds  with  other 
tribes.^  In  the  ceremonies  of  the  Omeo  blacks,  a  Victoria 
tribe  now  extinct,  there  were  certain  proceedings  which 
indicated  to  the  neophyte  the  districts  with  which  he  would 
be,  as  a  man,  on  friendly  or  hostile  terms.^  Kurnai  boys, 
after  initiation,  spend  months  in  the  bush  as  probationers, 
under  the  charge  of  their  guardians,  "gaining  their  own 
living,  learning  lessons  of  self-control,  and  being  instructed  in 
the  manly  duties  of  the  Kurnai,  until  the  old  men  are  satis- 
fied that  they  are  sufficiently  broken  in  to  obedience,  and 
may  be  trusted  to  return  to  the  community."  ^  The  boys 
are  told  to  obey  the  old  men,  to  live  peaceably  with  their 
friends,  and  share  all  they  have  with  them,  to  avoid  inter- 
fering with  the  girls  and  married  women,  and  to  observe 
the  food  restrictions.^  Among  the  Koombanggary  (a  tribe 
in  the  northern  part  of  New  South  Wales)  this  moral  train- 
ing is  especially  prominent.  ''Each  lad  is  attended  by 
one  of  the  elders,  who  instructs  him  every  evening  in  his 
duties,  and  gives  him  advice  to  regulate  his  conduct  through 
life  —  advice  given  in  so  kindly,  fatherly,  and  impressive 
a  manner  as  often  to  soften  the  heart  and  draw  tears  from 
the  youth.  He  is  told  to  conduct  himself  discreetly  towards 
women,  to  restrict  himself  to  the  class  which  his  name  con- 
fines him  to,  and  not  to  look  after  another's  gin;  that  if  he 
does  take  another  gin  when  young  who  belongs  to  another, 
he  is  to  give  her  up  without  any  fighting;  not  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  a  gin  if  he  finds  her  alone;  that  he  is  to  be  silent, 
and  not  given  to  quarrelling."  ^  In  Kaiser  Wil- 


^  Mathews,  i&i6^.,xxviii  (1894),  120. 

^  Clement  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.j  xvi  (1903),  10. 

^  Helms  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc.  New 
South  Wales,  second  series,  x  (1895), 
391. 


^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiv  (1885),  319- 
^  Ihid.,  316. 

^  Palmer  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst, 
xiii  (1884),  296. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


helm  Land  boys  undergoing  the  Asa  rites  are  taught  certain 
moral  precepts:  they  are  to  be  generous;  they  are  not  to 
steal;  and  they  are  to  behave  properly  towards  the  women. ^ 
At  Mer,  an  island  in  Torres  Straits,  the  lads  ''were 
instructed  in  all  that  related  to  their  daily  life,  in  the  most 
approved  methods  of  fishing,  fighting,  or  house-building, 
and  in  all  the  duties  which  are  classed  as  man's  work,  in 
addition  to  rules  of  conduct,  the  customs  of  the  tribe  and 
the  traditions  of  the  elders/'  ^  At  Tud,  the  initiation  cere- 
monies "formed  a  very  good  discipline.  The  self-restraint 
acquired  during  the  period  of  complete  isolation  was  of 
great  value,  and  being  cut  off  from  all  the  interests  of  the 
outer  world,  the  lads  had  an  opportunity  for  quiet  medita- 
tion, which  must  have  tended  to  mature  their  minds,  es- 
pecially as  they  were  at  the  same  time  instructed  in  a  good 
code  of  morals.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  of  a  more  effectual 
means  for  a  rapid  training."  ^  "  'You.  no  steal,'  "  the  boys 
were  told,  "^you  no  take  anything  without  leave;  if  you 
see  a  fish-spear  and  take  it  without  leave,  suppose  you  break 
it  and  have  not  one  of  your  own  —  how  you  pay  man  .  .  . 
You  no  play  with  boy  and  girl  now;  you  a  man  now  and 
no  boy.  You  no  play  with  small  play-canoe  or  spear;  that 
all  finish  now  .  .  .  You  no  marry  your  cousin,  she  all 
same  as  sister.  If  two  boys  are  mates,  they  may  not  marry 
each  other's  sisters,  or  by-and-bye  they  ashamed;  they  like 
brothers,  they  may  marry  two  sisters  along  another  man. 
If  man  asks  for  food  or  water  or  anything  else,  you  give, 
if  you  have  a  little,  you  give  little,  suppose  you  got  plenty, 
you  give  half.  Look  after  mother  and  father,  never  mind  if 
you  and  your  wife  have  to  go  without.  Give  half  of  all  your 
fish  to  your  parents;  don't  be  mean.  Don't  speak  bad  word 
to  mother.  Father  and  mother  all  along  same  as  food  in 
belly ;  when  they  die  you  feel  hungry  and  empty.  Mind  your 
uncles  too  and  cousins.  If  your  brother  go  to  fight,  you  help 
him,  go  together ;  don't  let  him  go  first.' "  ^  Among 

^  Hagen,  Unter  den  Papua's,  237.  ^  Ibid.,  411-412.    Cf.  also  Rep. 

^  Haddon   in   Intern.  Archiv  f.  Cambridge  Anthrop.  Expedition  to 

Ethnogr.yvi  (1893),  146.  Torres  Straits,  v,  140,  210-211,  214, 

^  Id.y  in  Jour.  Anthrop  Inst.,  xix  273. 
(1890),  359-360. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  NOVICE 


the  Gulf  Papuans  the  course  of  instruction  in  the  Kwody 
or  men's  house,  forms  one  long  training  in  tribal  cus- 
tom. The  old  man  who  resides  with  the  novices  as  in- 
structor teaches  them  the  complicated  system  of  taboo; 
the  seasons  when  certain  kinds  of  fish  may  not  be  eaten  or 
when  certain  foods  are  reserved  for  future  feasts.  Much 
attention  is  devoted  to  the  art  of  sorcery;  not  to  make  them 
sorcerers,  but  to  impress  on  their  minds  how  great  is  the 
power  of  sorcerers.  Their  guardian  gives  them  all  kinds  of 
advice  respecting  their  duty  to  their  tribe;  the  tribal  enemies 
must  be  the  enemies  of  each  individual  initiate.  In  select- 
ing a  wife,  the  tribal  interests  must  be  predominant;  she 
must  be  a  mother  of  healthy  children ;  should  she  prove  to  be 
barren,  all  obligation  of  husband  to  wife  ceases.  Whatever 
serves  the  highest  interests  of  the  tribe  is  justifiable. 
So  the  novices  are  taught  that  if  a  woman  bears  twins, 
one  should  be  buried,  for  no  mother  can  nourish  two  children 
as  successfully  as  one.  So  also  the  novices  are  warned 
against  illicit  intercourse;  it  is  detrimental  to  the  tribe,  be- 
cause no  one  can  be  held  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  one 
illegitimately  born ;  and  the  murder  of  such  a  child  is  allow- 
able. "The  Gulf  Papuan  believes  implicitly  in  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.  Personal  desires,  likes,  and  dislikes,  every- 
thing that  is,  or  can  be,  must  be  subordinated  to  the  pursuit 
of  obtaining  the  fittest.  This  idea  is  innate  in  him,  it  is 
fostered  by  his  guardians  when  he  is  a  child,  it  is  inculcated 
in  his  initiation,  it  is  dominant  in  him  until  he  dies.''  ^ 
In  New  Pomerania  where  the  Dukduk  is  the  all-power- 
ful tribal  society,  if  the  chief  decides  to  admit  a  can- 
didate, he  is  placed  in  charge  of  two  men,  ''brothers  of 
the  wood  and  sea,"  for  his  education.  They  take  him  to  the 
forest,  where  he  is  made  to  build  a  house  and  get  a  supply 
of  food.  ''At  first  he  is  examined  in  his  bodily  exercises 
and  in  his  proficiency  in  the  few  arts  of  his  savage  life. 
From  these  material  considerations  his  tutors  pass  to  more 
recondite  matters.  They  instruct  him  in  the  secrets  of  the 
sea  and  the  forest,  each  according  to  his  title.  When  the 
candidate  can  pass  a  satisfactory  examination  in  this  branch 

^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii  (1902),  423. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


of  his  education,  his  tutors  acquaint  him  with  the  history 
of  his  race  and  the  Hst  of  its  hereditary  friends  and  imme- 
morial foes/'  ^  At  one  stage  of  the  Nanga  rites, 
formerly  practised  by  the  Fijians,  the  boys  gayly  painted  and 
dressed  go  to  the  Nanga  enclosure  and  there  make  their 
ceremonial  offerings  of  kava.  And  the  elders,  receiving 
the  offerings,  pray  ''that  in  future  the  tree  of  the  Nanga 
will  be  acceptable  to  the  gods"  and  that  the  boys  may  grow 
up  into  brave  and  strong  men.^  The  inhabitants 
of  Halamahera,  one  of  the  Moluccas,  still  preserve  initiation 
rites  of  a  secret  character.  After  a  general  festival  at  which 
women  are  present,  the  boys  are  led  into  the  forest  and  remain 
concealed  under  the  largest  trees.  Men  accompany  them 
armed  with  swords  and  shields.  The  leader  strikes  three 
times  on  each  tree  in  order  that  the  novices  hidden  under- 
neath may  not  be  cowards  when  they  grow  up.  The  boys 
remain  in  the  forest  all  day,  and  to  harden  their  bodies  ex- 
pose themselves  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  as  much  as  possible. 
Then  they  bathe  and  return  to  the  scene  of  festivities. 
The  red  paint  with  which  they  are  covered  symbolizes  the 
blood  from  the  breaking  of  the  hymen.  Before  this  feast 
the  boys  must  see  no  blood,  wear  no  red  clothes,  nor  eat 
certain  foods  which  are  no  longer  tabooed  after  the  initiation 
is  over  and  they  have  become  men.^  At  initiation 
into  the  Kakian  of  the  Patasiva  of  Ceram,  novices  are  told 
to  treat  their  relatives  well,  not  to  fight  with  them,  and  not 
to  seduce  other  people's  wives.  They  also  learn  the  old 
traditions  of  the  tribe  as  well  as  the  special  secrets  of  the 
Kakian  society.^  Basutos  boys,  during  the  in- 
itiatory seclusion,  are  beaten  frequently  and  without  pity. 

Amendez-vous they  are  told,  "'Soyez  hommes ! 
Craignez  le  vol !  craignez  I'adultere !  Honorez  vos  peres 
et  meres.  Obeissez  a  vos  chefs.'"  ^  Bechuana  lads  are 
asked,  "Will  you  guard  the  chief  well      Will  you  herd  the 


^  Churchill  in  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  xxxviii  (1890),  240. 

^  Joske  in  Intern.  Archiv  /. 
Ethnogr.,  ii  (1889),  263. 


^  Riedel  in  Zeits.  f.  Ethnol.y  xvii 
(1885),  82. 

^  Riedel,  De  Sluik-en  Kroesharige 
Rassen,  no. 

^  Casalis,  Les  Bassoutos,  278. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  NOVICE 


cattle  well?''  and  similar  questions.  After  these  interroga- 
tions the  old  men  rush  forward  and  whip  them  over  the  back 
^*and  every  stroke  inflicted  thus  makes  the  blood  squirt 
out  of  a  wound  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  long."  ^  At  the 
close  of  initiation  they  listen  to  a  long  address  by  the  elders 
and  medicine-men.  As  they  have  bathed  the  white  clay 
from  their  bodies  and  have  burned  all  the  objects  connected 
with  their  seclusion,  so  all  that  belongs  to  their  life  as  children 
must  be  put  away.  They  must  never  visit  the  place  of 
seclusion  ''where  they  are  considered  to  have  left  their  evil 
dispositions  and  the  follies  of  childhood."  ^  Novices  belong- 
ing to  the  Lake  Nyassa  tribes  "have  arms  put  into  their 
hands  and  are  harangued  by  the  elders,  bards,  and 
magicians.  They  are  now  men,  and  men's  work  is  to 
be  theirs.  Herding,  hoeing,  reaping,  and  all  domestic 
duties  in  which  they  assisted  their  mothers,  they  have  no 
longer  any  concern  with.  War,  hunting,  and  hearing  causes 
must  now  occupy  their  thoughts,  for  they  are  to  take  the 
place  of  the  fathers,  and  on  them  will  depend  the  defence 
of  the  tribe  and  the  maintaining  of  its  honour.  They  must 
defend  their  chief,  avenge  his  wrongs,  wage  war  at  his  word, 
and  obey  his  commands  if  that  should  imply  death;  *a 
man  can  die  but  once,'  with  which  philosophy  they  are 
launched  into  the  new  life  of  full  manhood."  ^  Vey 
boys  during  their  year's  seclusion  receive  instruction  in  the 
various  manly  arts  —  in  war,  hunting,  and  fishing.  They 
are  taught  to  withstand  hunger  and  thirst,  and  to  exhibit 
bravery  in  fighting,  and  in  all  cases  to  redress  wrongs  and 
protect  the  weak.  "  Dieser  Pflege  des  Rechtsgefiihls  scheint 
viel  Sorgfalt  gewidmet  zu  werden."  Especially  are  they 
taught  how  to  form  proper  judgments  on  matters  of  tribal 
importance  in  order  later  to  be  able  as  men  to  take  part  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  palaaver-house.^  Much 
the  same  account  was  given  of  the  Belli-paaro  mysteries, 
among  the  Quojas,  two  centuries  ago.    ''Les  initiez  ra- 

^  Livingstone,  Missionary  Travels,  ^  Macdonald  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 

164.  Inst.,  xxii  (1892),  loo-ioi. 

^  Casalis,  op.  cit.,  281.  ^  Biittikofer,  Reisebilder  aus  Libe- 

ria, ii,  305. 


56  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


content  d'admirables  choses  de  cette  ceremonie,  ils  disent 
qu'on  les  rotit,  qu'on  les  fait  changer  entierement  de  mceurs 
et  de  vie,  qu'ils  re^oivent  un  esprit  tout  di^Ferent  de  celui 
des  autres  et  des  lumieres  toutes  nouvelles."  ^  The 
Madagascar  ceremonies  which  illustrate  the  preservation 
under  monarchical  conditions  of  what  was  originally  a  com- 
munity rite,  still  exhibit  the  ethical  aspects  of  initiation. 
Circumcision,  here  a  practice  of  great  antiquity,  must  be 
undergone  before  a  youth  is  considered  fitted  for  military 
service.  No  fixed  time  is  appointed  for  the  ceremonies, 
which  may  last  for  months.  "All  depends  on  the  will 
of  the  sovereign,  as  the  ceremony  is,  in  some  respects,  an 
initiation  into  the  rank,  privileges,  and  obligations  of  the 
members  of  the  body  politic,  and,  in  a  sense,  transfers  the 
subjects  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  parent  to  that  of  the 
king."  At  the  actual  moment  of  the  rite  the  father  says  to 
his  child:  "'Thou  art  become  a  man;  mayst  thou  be  loved, 
.  .  .  be  of  good  report  among  the  people,  be  facile  of  in- 
struction, and  of  docile  disposition.'"^  While 
the  Fuegian  youth  were  confined  in  the  Kina^  "les  freres 
aines  de  ces  jeunes  gar^ons,  leurs  oncles,  leurs  cousins,  plus 
ages,  les  engageaient  a  etre  industrieux,  genereux  et  sinceres 
en  les  avertissant  qu'ils  seraient  malheureux  s'ils  se  condui- 
saient  mal."  ^  Children  of  the  Bororo  tribe  of  Brazil 

go  to  the  BahttOy  or  men's  house,  as  soon  as  they  are  weaned 
—  an  event  which  does  not  take  place  before  their  fifth  or 
even  their  seventh  year.  The  Bahito  is  "a  public  school 
where  the  children  are  taught  spinning,  weaving,  the  manu- 
facture of  weapons,  and  above  all  singing,  upon  perfection 
in  which  is  centred  the  ambition  of  all  those  who  wish  to 
become  chieftains."  ^  Of  the  Powhatan  Indians 

of  Virginia  we  are  told  that  only  the  choicest  young  men  of 
the  tribe  were  selected  for  the  puberty  ordeal,  as  well  as 


*  Dapper,  Description  de  VAfrique, 
268. 

2  Ellis,  History  of  Madagascar,  i, 
176-187 ;  cf.  Sibree,  The  Great  African 
Island,  217-222.  There  is  an  older 
account  of  these  ceremonies  by  Etienne 


de  Flacourt,  Histoire  de  la  Grande 
He  Madagascar  (Paris,  1761),  63-66. 

^  Mission  Scientifique  du  Cap 
Horn  (Paris,  1891),  vii,  376. 

^  Erie  and  Radin  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst. J  XXX vi  (1906),  388. 


^  THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  NOVICE  57 

those  who  had  accumulated  any  property  by  travel  and 
hunting.  "  It  is  an  Institution/'  says  Beverley, "  or  Discipline 
which  all  young  Men  must  pass,  before  they  can  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  of  the  Number  of  the  great  Men,  Officers  or 
Cockarouses  of  the  Nation."  The  candidates  were  shut  up 
in  an  enclosure,  where  they  were  compelled  to  drink  wysoccariy 
a  preparation  which  the  Indians  said  took  away  their  wits 
altogether.  When  a  return  was  made  to  the  settlement,  the 
boys  were  "fearful  of  discovering  any  thing  of  their  former 
Rememberance  .  .  . ;  otherwise  they  must  go  through  the 
ordeal  again  to  the  great  risk  of  their  lives.  Those  who  died 
were  considered  a  sacrifice  to  Okeey  the  chief  deity  of  the 
tribes.  Beverley  at  first  considered  all  this  to  be  "an  Inven- 
tion of  the  Seniors"  to  get  possession  of  the  property  of  the 
young  men,  as  the  latter  can  never  pretend  to  call  to  mind 
any  of  their  property  which  is  shared  among  the  old  men  or 
given  to  some  public  use.  "  But  the  Indians  detest  this 
opinion,  and  pretend  that  this  violent  Method  of  taking 
away  the  Memory,  is  to  release  the  Youth  from  all  their 
childish  Impressions,  ...  so  that,  when  the  young  Men 
come  to  themselves  again,  their  Reason  may  act  freely, 
without  being  byass'd  by  the  Cheats  of  Custom  and  Edu- 
cation." ^  At  the  initiation  rites  of  the  Dieguenos 
Indians  of  Southern  California  the  youths  "were  instructed 
in  their  future  duties  as  members  of  the  tribe  and  partici- 
pants in  the  ceremonies,  and  were  threatened  with  dire 
punishment  if  they  should  prove  recalcitrant.  Hatatkurr 
[the  spirit  of  the  Milky  Way]  would  break  their  backs  or 
deprive  them  of  sight,  if  they  failed  in  the  appointed  way  of 
life."  ^  In  the  legends  preserved  by  the  Mitawit 
society  of  the  Menomini  Indians  it  is  told  how  the  "Great 
Mystery"  caused  Manabush^  his  vicar,  to  appear  on  earth 
and  erect  a  mitawikomtky  or  lodge,  where  all  tribesmen 
should  receive  instruction.  "^Long  ago,'"  said  a  venerable 
priest  at  a  recent  initiation,  "^the  grand  medicine  was  ob- 
served with  more  care  and  reverence  than  it  is  now.  The 
sun  was  bright  when  the  whiteheads  assembled,  but  now  it 

^  History  of  Virginia,  177-180.  ^  Miss  Dubois  in  Amer.  Anthro- 

pologist, new  series,  vii  (1905),  623. 


58  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


is  dark,  and  I  cannot  see  the  reason.  Children  were  better 
taught  to  respect  the  truth  and  to  be  honest.  .  .  .  There- 
fore, teach  your  children  that  they  may  not  stray  beyond 
your  control.  .  .  .  Teach  them  also  to  be  honest;  do  not 
permit  them  to  learn  to  lie  and  to  steal.'"  ^  Novices 
presented  for  entrance  into  the  Medicine  Lodge  of  the 
Dakota  Indians,  to  which  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
adult  members  of  the  tribe  belonged,  were  told  that  "they 
should  honor  and  revere  the  medicine  sack,  honor  all  who 
should  belong  to  the  dance,  make  frequent  medicine  feasts, 
refrain  from  theft,  not  listen  to  birds  (slander),  and  female 
members  should  not  have  a  plurality  of  husbands.''  ^ 


^  Hoffman  in  Fourteenth  Ann,  ^  Pond  in  Collections  of  the  Minne- 
Rep.  Bur,  Ethnol.y  79-80.  sota  Historical  Society ,  ii  (St.  Paul, 

1867),  38. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE   POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS 

There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  general  excellence  of 
this  initiatory  training,  nor  as  to  its  permanent  effects  upon 
the  character  of  those  initiated.  Impressions  conveyed  in  so 
striking  a  fashion,  result  in  something  more  than  a  tem- 
porary "conversion":  the  boys  become  indeed  ''men,''  and 
are  now  ready  to  accept  the  lifelong  responsibilities  and 
duties  of  tribal  life.  When  Mr.  Howitt,  as  headman  of  the 
Kurnai,  revived  for  scientific  purposes  the  Jeraeil^  which 
had  been  discontinued  for  a  number  of  years,  one  of  the 
''worthy  old  blackfellows"  said  to  him:  '"I  am  glad  it  will 
be  held,  for  our  boys  are  all  going  wild  since  they  have  gone 
to  the  white  people;  we  have  no  longer  any  control  over 
them.' "  ^  At  this  Jeraeil^  the  old  men  considered  it  necessary 
to  have  a  special  ceremony  for  the  moral  improvement  of 
the  lads.  The  latter  were  thought  "to  have  departed  too 
much  from  the  good  old  ancestral  virtues,  and  it  was  there- 
fore necessary  that  the  white  man's  influence  should,  if 
possible,  be  counteracted.  It  was  thought  that  the  lads 
had  become  selfish,  and  no  longer  willing  to  share  that  which 
they  obtained  by  their  own  exertions,  or  had  given  to  them, 
with  their  friends."  ^  The  effect  of  the  Arunta  initiation 
ceremonies  on  the  young  men  is  "  naturally  to  heighten  their 
respect  for  the  old  men  and  to  bring  them  under  the  control 
of  the  latter.  With  the  advent  of  the  white  man  on  the  scene 
and  the  consequent  breaking  down  of  old  customs,  such  a 
beneficial  control  exercised  by  the  elder  over  the  younger 
men  rapidly  becomes  lost,  and  the  native  as  rapidly  de- 

^  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  iii  ^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
(Sidney,  1891),  349.  xiv  (1885),  310. 

59 


6o  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


generates."  ^  Writing  of  the  Torres  Straits  Islanders,  Mr. 
Haddon  declares:  ''It  is  difficult  for  us  to  realise  the  awe 
and  reverence  that  was  felt  by  these  people  for  their  sacred 
ceremonies,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  intense  feeling, 
combined  as  it  was  with  reticence  and  discipline,  had  a  strong 
educative  effect  on  the  people."  ^ 

From  another  point  of  view  these  mysteries  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  most  conservative  of  primitive  institutions 
and  as  the  chief  means  for  preserving  that  uniformity  and 
unchangeableness  of  custom  which  is  a  leading  trait  of 
primitive  society.  The  ceremonies,  coming  at  puberty, 
soon  succeed  in  repressing  every  favorable  intellectual 
variation  and  in  bringing  all  the  members  of  the  tribe  to 
one  monotonous  level  of  slavish  adherence  to  the  tribal 
traditions.  Thus  they  reenforce  that  obstacle  to  progress 
which  has  been  insisted  upon  by  Spencer  as  characteristic 
of  savage  peoples ;  namely,  the  completion  of  physical  growth 
and  structure  at  an  early  age.  But  regarding  them  purely 
from  the  native  standpoint,  it  is  difficult  to  overestimate 
the  importance  of  the  initiation  rites  in  providing  among 
peoples  destitute  of  all  governmental  authority  save  that  of 
the  tribal  elders,  a  system  of  primitive  social  control  which 
demands  and  receives  the  unquestioning  obedience  of  every 
member  of  the  community. 

There  is,  however,  still  another  aspect  of  the  initiation 
ceremonies  which  is  of  the  utmost  significance.  The  lot  of 
the  old  is  not  an  easy  one  under  the  conditions  of  primitive 
life,  but  with  the  machinery  of  the  puberty  institution  lying 
ready  to  their  hand,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  elders 
should  find  in  its  operation  a  powerful  means  of  amelio- 
rating what  would  be  otherwise  a  difficult  existence.  As  the 
boy  grows  into  manhood  he  learns  that  all  the  great  mys- 
teries of  which  he  has  heard  so  much  will  be  revealed  to  him 
when  he  gives  up  his  association  with  women  and  children ; 
and  that  he  will  become  acquainted  with  those  objects  so 
powerful  for  magical  purposes  which  the  elders  and  the 

^  Spencer    and    Gillen,  Native  ^  Head-Hunters ,  51. 

Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  280-281. 
Cf.  223. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS  6i 


medicine-men  preserve  with  such  jealous  caution  from  the 
gaze  of  the  uninitiated.  The  arrival  of  puberty  finds  him 
only  too  ready  for  initiation.  However  vexatious  and  bur- 
densome may  be  the  trials  and  restrictions  imposed  upon 
him,  he  is  willing  to  fulfil  them  with  the  most  scrupulous 
care.  Anxiety  to  become  a  man  and  to  enjoy  the  privileges 
of  a  man  unite  with  reverence  and  fear  to  make  him  an  easy 
subject  for  that  partial  hypnotization  which  the  initiatory 
performances  seem  everywhere  to  produce.  Even  the 
savage  mind  has  not  failed  to  grasp  the  significance  of  the 
emotional  and  religious  conditions  which  arise  at  puberty. 
By  working  upon  the  very  human  characteristics  of  cu- 
riosity and  awe  most  acutely  experienced  at  the  arrival  of 
'  adolescence,  the  directors  of  these  early  mysteries  seem  to 
have  been  everywhere  successful  in  the  creation  of  an  or- 
ganized system  of  deceit  and  chicanery.  Inextricably 
mingled  even  with  the  Australian  rites,  there  exists  a  vast 
amount  of  fraud  and  intimidation,  which,  practised  first 
on  the  novices  and  then  on  the  women  and  children,  and 
gathering  force  in  more  favorable  conditions,  becomes,  in 
the  secret  societies  of  the  Melanesian  and  African  peoples, 
the  source  of  wholesale  oppression  and  almost  unmitigated 
evil.  In  the  simplest  form  of  these  ceremonies  we  may 
detect  the  conscious  efforts  of  the  elders  to  use  them  for  their 
own  advantage;  an  element  of  selfishness  is  introduced 
which  results  finally  when  the  secret  society  stage  is  reached, 
in  prostituting  the  good  of  the  community  to  the  private 
ends  of  a  small  number  of  initiates. 

Everywhere  the  belief  is  general  among  the  women  and 
uninitiated  children  that  the  elders,  the  directors  of  the 
puberty  institution,  are  in  possession  of  certain  mysterious 
and  magical  objects,  the  revelation  of  which  to  the  novices 
forms  the  central  and  most  impressive  feature  of  initiation. 
At  the  Engwura  of  the  Arunta  tribe  the  young  men  are  per- 
mitted as  a  great  privilege  to  examine  the  sacred  Churingaj 
and  in  some  instances  these  are  handed  over  by  the  old  men 
to  the  younger  for  safe  keeping.  The  deference  paid  to  the 
old  men  during  these  ceremonies  is  most  noticeable;  "no 
young  man  thinks  of  speaking  unless  he  be  first  addressed 


62  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


by  one  of  the  elder  men  and  then  he  Hstens  solemnly  to  all 
that  the  latter  tells  him.  During  the  whole  time  the  presence 
of  the  Churinga  seems  to  produce  a  reverent  silence  as  if 
the  natives  really  believed  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead  men 
to  whom  they  have  belonged  in  times  past  were  present, 
and  no  one,  while  they  are  being  examined,  ever  speaks 
in  tones  louder  than  a  whisper."  ^  Before  being  allowed 
to  see  the  Ernatulunga^  or  storehouse,  of  the  Churinga^ 
an  Arunta  man  must  have  been  both  circumcised  and  sub- 
incised,  "and  have  shown  himself  capable  of  self-restraint 
and  of  being  worthy  by  his  general  demeanour  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  secrets  of  the  tribe.  If  he  be  what  the  natives 
call  irkun  oknirray  that  is,  light  and  frivolous  and  too  much 
given  to  chattering  like  a  woman,  it  may  be  many  years 
before  he  is  admitted  to  the  secrets."  ^  Among  most  of  the 
Australian  tribes,  the  exhibition  of  the  bull-roarer  and  the 
explanation  of  the  manner  in  which  its  sounds  are  produced, 
is  the  chief  mystery  disclosed.^  Practices  similar  to  those 
of  the  Australians  obtain  among  the  Elema  tribes  of  British 
New  Guinea,^  and  at  Muralug,  Torres  Straits.^  Toaripi 
lads  confined  in  the  Dubuy  or  men's  house,  at  in- 
itiation, are  finally  allowed  to  see  the  great  mask  of  Semese 
as  it  hangs  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  house.  "During 
our  stay  in  one  of  the  Dubus^'  writes  Chalmers,  "a  peculiar 
feast  took  place.  A  lad  who  had  never  been  initiated,  never 
seen  the  inner  precincts  of  the  Dubuy  and  never  looked 
upon  the  wonderful  fetish  of  Semesey  was  to  receive  his 
introduction.  His  father's  pigs  were  dying  fast  of  some 
unknown  and  incurable  disease,  and  though  his  son  was 


*  Spencer    and    Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  303. 
^  Ihid.^  139-140. 

^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiv  (1885),  314.  The  mystery  at- 
taching to  the  bull-roarer  among  the 
Arunta,  write  Messrs.  Spencer  and 
Gillen,  *'has  probably  had  a  large 
part  of  its  origin  in  the  desire  of  the 
men  to  impress  the  women  of  the  tribe 
with  an  idea  of  the  supremacy  and 
superior  power  of  the  male  sex.  From 


time  immemorial  myths  and  super- 
stitions have  grown  up  around  them, 
until  now  it  is  difficult  to  say  how  far 
each  individual  believes  in  what,  if 
the  expression  may  be  allowed,  he 
must  know  to  be  more  or  less  of  a 
fraud,  but  in  which  he  implicitly 
thinks  that  the  other  natives  believe'' 
(op.  cit.,  130). 

^  Holmes,  ibid.,  xxxii  (1902),  425. 

^  Haddon,  ibid.,  xix  (1890),  432. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS  63 


over-young,  he  determined  to  stretch  a  point,  so  gave  a 
feast  at  which  the  initial  processes  of  the  entering-in  w^ould 
take  place,  though  years  would  elapse  ere  the  final  mysteries 
were  disclosed."  After  the  feast  the  lad  was  gayly  dressed 
and  taken  from  his  father  by  an  elderly  man  who  led  him 
to  the  inner  precinct  of  the  Dubu^  where  he  saw  the  image  of 
Semese,  '^He  looked  frightened,  and  seemed  glad  when  he 
again  stood  by  his  father.  Friends  then  gave  him  presents 
of  bows  and  arrows.  .  .  .  He  slept  that  night  in  the  inner 
Dubu.  Overhead,  near  the  centre,  carefully  wrapped, 
hangs  the  most  sacred  of  all  the  representations  of  Semese. 
Only  old  men  have  seen  it;  and  various  are  the  initiatory 
steps  before  it  can  be  seen."  ^  The  old  men  of 

Guadalcancar,  one  of  the  Solomon  Islands,  have  secret 
emblems  {tindalos)^  which  are  regarded  with  the  greatest 
veneration  by  the  people.  By  means  of  the  tindalos  the 
elders  become  great  diviners  and  workers  in  magic.  A 
youth  learns  about  them  only  after  initiation.  The  elders 
guard  the  tindalos  jealously  as  "in  a  community  where  no 
respect  whatever  is  shown  by  youth  to  age  they  are  a  power- 
ful means  for  keeping  the  impetuous  youth  in  its  proper 
place.  Initiates  to  the  mysteries  are  doubtless  only  made 
after  due  observation  as  to  the  fitness  of  a  man  for  guarding 
the  secrets  to  be  entrusted  to  him."  ^  In  the 

Banks  Islands,  where  the  bull-roarer  is  too  well  known 
to  be  used  in  mysteries,  its  place  is  taken  by  a  flat,  smooth 
stone  on  which  is  rubbed  the  butt-end  of  the  stalk  of  a  fan. 
The  vibration  produces  a  curious  and  impressive  sound 
which  can  be  modulated  in  strength  and  tone  at  the  will 


^  Pioneering  in  New  Guinea,  85- 

86. 

^  Woodford,  A  Naturalist  among 
the  Head-Hunters,  25;  see  also 
Penny,  Ten  Years  in  Melanesia,  71-72. 
Codrington  describes  the  tindalos  of 
Florida,  another  of  the  Solomon 
Islands,  as  large  bamboo  structures, 
brightly  painted  and  ornamented  and 
sometimes  large  enough  to  accommo- 
date as  many  as  eighty  or  a  hundred 
men  who  are  secreted  within  them  and 


thus  move  them  about.  The  unini- 
tiated believe  them  to  be  the  handi- 
work of  the  ghosts,  or  even  the  ghosts 
themselves  {The  Melanesians,  96-97). 
Some  of  the  tindalos  possess  marked 
similarities  to  the  structures  made  by 
the  Arunta  for  the  Engwura  rites. 
Cf.  for  instance,  the  waninga  of  the 
Arunta  with  the  voi  of  the  Florida 
Islanders  as  described  by  Spencer  and 
Gillen,  op.  cit.,  306-309;  and  Cod- 
rington, op.  cit.y  96. 


64  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


of  the  performer.^  Fijian  elders,  lacking  bull- 

roarers,  or  Churinga^  devised  a  dramatic  representation  to 
impress  the  lads  at  initiation.  On  the  last  day  of  the  cere- 
monies the  candidates  were  led  up  to  the  sacred  Nanga 
enclosure.  But  where  are  the  men  who  used  to  be  chaunt- 
ing  there  the  Voice  of  the  Surf.r*  The  Great  Nanga  is 
deserted  and  empty.  The  procession  stops.  A  dead  silence 
prevails.  Suddenly,  from  the  forest  a  harsh  scream  of  many 
parrots  breaks  forth,  and  then  a  mysterious  booming  sound 
which  fills  the  young  men's  souls  with  awe.  The  old  Vere 
now  moves  slowly  forward,  and  leads  them  for  the  first  time 
into  the  Nanga  tambutambu.  Here  a  dreadful  spectacle 
meets  their  startled  gaze.  Near  the  outer  entrance,  with 
his  back  to  the  Temple,  sits  the  chief  priest  regarding  them 
with  a  fixed  stare;  and  between  him  and  them  lie  a  row  of 
dead  men,  covered  with  blood,  their  bodies  apparently  cut 
open,  and  their  entrails  protruding.  The  Fere  steps  over 
them  one  by  one,  and  the  awestruck  youths  follow  him  until 
they  stand  in  a  row  before  the  high  priest,  their  'souls  drying 
up'  under  his  strong  glare.  Suddenly  he  blurts  out  a  great 
yell,  whereupon  the  dead  men  start  to  their  feet,  and  run 
down  to  the  river  to  cleanse  themselves  from  the  blood  and 
filth  with  which  they  are  besmeared."  ^  The 
Muanza  of  the  Wanika  is  a  great  drum  so  sacred  in  character 
that  when  it  is  brought  out  for  the  ceremonies  all  the  un- 
initiated must  hide,  for  should  they  see  it,  they  would  surely 
die.^  According  to  Burton,  only  the  members  of  the  third 
degree  of  the  society  may  see  this  drum.^  Among  the 
Uaupes  of  the  Rio  Negro,  at  the  close  of  initiation  boys 
may  see  the  mysterious  juripari  instruments.  When 
the  music  of  the  juripari  is  heard,  the  women  must  retire  to 
the  woods;  death  would  be  the  penalty  for  even  an  acci- 
dental sight  of  these  objects,  "and  it  is  said  that  fathers  have 
been  the  executioners  of  their  own  daughters,  and  husbands 
of  their  wives,  when  such  has  been  the  case."  ^ 

^  Codrington,  op.  cit.j  80.  ^  Zanzibar,  ii,  91.    Cf.  also  Von 

^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.y  der  Decken,  Reisen  in  Ost-Afrika,  i, 

xiv  (1884),  21-22.  217. 

^  New,    Life,    Wanderings,  and  ^  Wallace,  Narrative  of  Travels 

Labours  in  Eastern  Africa,  113.  on  the  Amazon  and  Rio  Negro,  349. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS  65 


The  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  novices  from  the  period 
of  their  initiation,  are  chiefly  concerned  with  material  wants. 
Numerous  food  taboos  and  various  restraints  on  marriage 
contribute  in  a  most  substantial  fashion  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  older  men.  Ostensibly  such  taboos  are  vital  and  neces- 
sary parts  of  initiation.  It  is  interesting,  however,  to  notice 
how  prohibitions  which  once  may  have  had  a  legitimate 
origin  have  been  enlarged  for  the  benefit  of  the  elders  and  by 
them  bolstered  up  with  ''magical"  reasons.^    The  inviola- 


^  The  theory  that  food  taboos 
arose  out  of  the  belief  that  the  flesh 
of  the  tribal  totem  should  not  be 
eaten,  becomes,  in  the  light  of  Messrs. 
Spencer  and  Gillen's  discoveries  that 
the  Arunta  actually  eat  their  totem 
animals,  of  somewhat  limited  ap- 
plication. Mr.  Crawley,  with  greater 
plausibility,  suggests  that  these  pro- 
hibitions may  have  originated  in  the 
common  practice  of  '^forbidding 
certain  kinds  of  food  during  a  dan- 
gerous state"  —  the  novices,  at  pu- 
berty, being  ex  hypothesi  in  a  state 
in  which  they  are  liable  to  ''catch'' 
all  sorts  of  ills  {The  Mystic  Rose, 
154).  Thus  they  are  frequently 
cautioned  against  eating  female  ani- 
mals, lest  they  become  as  women. 
Among  the  Coast  Murring,  there  is 
an  obvious  effort  to  connect  the 
taboos  with  the  initiatory  rites. 
The  boys  are  cautioned  against 
eating  any  bird  that  swims,  for  that 
recalls  their  final  washing  and  puri- 
fication. They  must  not  eat  such 
animals  as  have  prominent  teeth, 
for  these  recall  the  teeth  lost  at  the 
rites,  etc.  (Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xiii,  1884,  455  sq.).  It  should 
be  remembered  that  the  food  re- 
strictions imposed  on  the  novices  are 
usually  only  a  part  of  a  wider  scheme 
of  taboos  imposed  on  men  and 
women  at  other  times.  For  the 
long  list  of  Arunta  food  restrictions, 
see  Spencer  and  Gillen,  op.  cit., 
470-473.    It  is  difficult  to  ascertain 

F 


what  faith  the  imposers  of  these 
taboos  now  have  in  their  own  regu- 
lations. The  novices  certainly  be- 
lieve in  them  implicitly.  "Mr. 
McAlpine  .  .  .  tells  me  that  about 
1856-57  he  had  a  black  boy  in  his 
employment.  The  lad  was  strong 
and  healthy,  until  one  day,  when 
Mr.  McAlpine  found  that  he  was  ill. 
He  explained  that  he  had  been  doing 
what  he  ought  not  to  have  done,  that 
he  had  'stoLn  some  female  opossum' 
before  he  was  permitted  to  eat  it; 
that  the  old  men  had  found  it  out, 
and  that  he  should  never  grow  up 
to  be  a  man.  In  fact,  he  lay  down 
under  the  behef,  so  to  say,  and  never 
got  up  again,  and  died  within  three 
weeks"  (Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xvi,  1886,  42  n.^).  Mr.  Howitt 
is  of  the  opinion  that  of  the  two 
reasons  for  which  such  taboos  are 
imposed  —  the  inculcation  of  dis- 
cipline and  the  provision  of  a  plenti- 
ful and  superior  supply  of  food  for 
the  old  men  —  the  latter  is  probably 
the  older,  "for  it  seems  to  be  most 
likely  that  where  the  old  men  have 
the  power  to  do  so,  they  will  impose 
rules  which  favour  themselves,  leav- 
ing the  disciplinary  rule  to  be  the 
secondary  object"  (Native  Tribes 
of  South-East  Australia,  640). 

The  ibets,  or  taboos,  usually  im- 
posed upon  members  of  the  African 
secret  societies,  and  gradually  re- 
laxed as  the  higher  grades  are  ob- 
tained, are  very  probably  the  survival 


• 


66  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


bility  of  these  prohibitions,  secured  in  the  first  place  by  the 
solemn  warnings  against  their  infraction,  is  further  secured 
by  the  general  belief  instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  boys  that 
all  their  actions  as  probationers  are  known  to  the  medicine- 
men, who  will  punish  them  severely  by  their  magical  powers 
for  any  lapses  from  the  path  of  rectitude/ 

Of  these  food  taboos  and  their  operation,  there  are  many 
illustrations.  Boys  of  the  Omeo  tribe  of  Victoria  were  told 
that  if  they  ate  of  forbidden  food,  they  would  be  struck  by 
lightning.  So  strong  was  this  belief  that  they  would  endure 
severe  starvation  rather  than  infringe  upon  the  regulation.^ 
Coast  Murring  youth  believed  that  a  breach  of  the  food  rules 
would  be  punished  by  Daramulun^  the  tribal  god,  who  had 
instituted  them.    "These  prohibitions  were  only  relaxed  as 


of  these  earlier  puberty  restrictions. 
For  the  taboos  obKgatory  on  members 
of  Ngi,  a  Fang  society,  see  Bennett 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix  (1899), 
92;  Marriott,  i^ifi^.,  98.  Members 
of  Ingiet,  a  society  of  New  Pome- 
rania,  are  subject  to  certain  taboos 
of  various  articles  of  food.  Each 
degree  has  its  different  regulations 
(Hahl  in  Nachrichten  iiber  Kaiser 
Wilhelms-Land  und  den  Bismarck- 
Archipel,  xiii,  1897,  76). 

Among  some  South  African  tribes, 
during  the  initiatory  seclusion,  novices 
are  allowed  to  obtain  food  only  by 
theft,  and  are  beaten  if  not  successful 
(Macdonald  in  Revue  Scientifique, 
third  series,  xlv  (1890),  643;  id. 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xix,  1890, 
268).  This  procedure,  recalling  the 
training  of  the  Spartan  youth,  seems 
chiefly  intended  as  an  ordeal,  but  may 
have  grown  out  of  the  earher  practice 
of  imposing  food  taboos  at  puberty. 
In  Kamerun,  candidates  undergo- 
ing initiation  must  plunder  yards 
and  houses  of  goats  and  fowls. 
Such  robbery  is  always  carried  on  at 
night,  because  the  novices,  to  preserve 
the  fable  of  their  invisibility,  are  con- 


fined in  the  forest  during  the  day 
(Hutchinson,  Ten  Years^  Wander- 
ings among  the  Ethiopians,  4  sq.). 
Purrah  boys,  at  the  close  of  initiation, 
are  given  extended  privileges  of 
license,  and  during  one  day  ^^may 
catch  and  kill  cattle,  goats,  sheep, 
fowls,  root  up  cassada,  and  perform 
other  little  pleasantries"  (Alldridge, 
The  Sherhro  and  its  Hinterland, 
131)- 

^  At  the  Austrahan  rites  additional 
impressiveness  is  secured  by  the 
presence  of  the  medicine-men  who 
go  through  their  performances  first 
before  the  women  and  children  and 
then,  at  the  secret  rites,  before  the 
novices.  Among  a  few  of  the  tribes, 
as  the  Wonghi  and  the  Coast  Mur- 
ring, these  officials,  combining  the 
functions  of  headman  and  shaman, 
take  immediate  charge  of  the  in- 
itiatory rites  (Cameron  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiv  (1885),  357; 
Howitt,  ibid.,  xvi  (1886),  43;  Bever- 
idge  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  xvii,  1883,  26). 

^  Helms  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  new  series,  x 
(1895),  393- 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS  67 


the  youths  proved  themselves  worthy,  and  in  some  cases 
appear  to  have  been  perpetual."  ^  Of  the  New  South  Wales 
aborigines,  we  are  told  that  married  people  alone  may  eat 
ducks,  while  the  old  men  have  reserved  to  them  the  privilege 
of  eating  emu.^  Young  men  who  ate  the  flesh  or  eggs  of  the 
emu  would  be  afflicted  with  sores  all  over  the  body.^  Among 
some  of  the  Lower  Murray  tribes,  prior  to  initiation  youths 
may  not  eat  emu,  wild  turkey,  swans,  geese,  or  black  duck, 
or  eggs  of  any  of  these  birds.  "Did  they  infringe  this  law 
in  the  very  remotest  degree,  their  hair  would  become  pre- 
maturely grey,  and  the  muscles  of  their  limbs  would  waste 
away  and  shrink  up."  ^  After  undergoing  the  Keeparra, 
lads  of  the  Port  Stephens  tribe  who  had  been  previously  for- 
bidden to  eat  the  male  of  all  land  animals,  are  now  allowed  to 
eat  the  male  kangaroo-rat.  After  their  attendance  at  a  second 
Keeparra  they  may  eat  the  male  opossum,  and  at  each  suc- 
cessive Keeparra  their  privileges  are  further  increased.^  Un- 
til the  Arunta  novice  has  quite  recovered  from  subincision, 
he  may  not  eat  the  flesh  of  opossum,  snake,  echidna,  and 
lizard.  Should  he  do  so,  his  recovery  would  be  retarded 
and  his  wounds  would  be  much  inflamed.^  When  he  is 
passing  through  the  Engwura^  the  last  of  the  long  series  of 
rites,  he  must  spend  much  of  his  time  catching  game  for  the 
benefit  of  the  old  men  who  are  in  camp  performing  the 
ceremonies.  He  is  not  supposed  to  eat  any  of  the  game 
himself.^  In  the  Warramunga  tribe,  after  subincision  the 
boys  "are  told  that  they  must  not  eat  large  lizards,  snakes, 
turkeys,  bandicoot,  emu,  emu  eggs,  or  echidna,  and  these 
restrictions  apply  until  they  are  fully  middle-aged."^  Among 
the  natives  of  the  Pilbarra  district  of  Northwestern  Australia, 


^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.y 
xiii  (1883),  192. 

^  Charles  Sturt,  Two  Expeditions 
into  the  Interior  of  Southern  Australia 
(London,  1833),  ii,  54  sq. 

^  Mitchell,  Three  Expeditions  into 
the  Interior  of  Eastern  Australia,  ii,  341 . 

*  Beveridge  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xvii  (1883), 
27. 


^  Enright,  ibid.,  xxxiii  (1899), 
122;  cf.iov  similar  regulations  at  the 
Bunan,  Mathews  in  Amer.  Anthropol- 
ogist, ix  (1896),  343;  Howitt  in 
Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiv  (1885),  316. 

^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  op.  cit.,  256. 

'  Ibid.,  347-348. 

^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Northern 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  613. 


68  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


after  a  youth  has  been  circumcised  he  is  not  allowed  to  eat 
emu  or  turkey  until  he  has  been  speared  or  until  the  elders, 
considering  him  a  man,  invite  him  to  eat  with  them.^  In 
the  Kimberley  district,  after  initiation  a  boy  ''must  not  touch 
the  flesh  of  emu  or  kangaroo,  and  in  some  tribes  bustard- 
flesh  until  he  has  received  a  wound  in  a  family  quarrel  or  in 
battle  with  another  tribe,  or  one  of  the  elders  rubs  a  piece  of 
such  meat  over  his  mouth. ^  The  old  men  who 

conduct  the  Barium  rites  of  the  Jabim,  a  tribe  of  Kaiser 
Wilhelm  Land,  get  much  profit  out  of  the  initiation  cere- 
monies through  the  gifts  of  food  they  receive.^  After  initia- 
tion, the  boys  must  not  eat  or  drink  in  the  presence  of  an 
older  man.  Should  they  do  so,  they  must  be  careful  to  hide 
their  faces  behind  a  tree  or  some  other  object.^  Novices 
undergoing  x\\eAsa  rites,  during  their  four  months'  seclusion, 
must  drink  no  water  and  must  avoid  all  cooked  foods.^ 
Even  after  their  initiation  the  best  parts  of  the  food  are 
always  reserved  for  the  men.^  Toaripi  youth  at  puberty 
are  confined  in  the  Dubu  until  their  heads,  which  have  been 
closely  shaven,  are  again  covered  with  long  hair.  They  must 
not  smoke  or  chew  betel-nut,  as  that  would  prevent  a  good 
growth  of  hair.  Taro  and  other  favorite  foods  are  also 
forbidden  to  them.*^  Among  the  Elema  tribes  ''initiates 
are  told  that  if  they  eat  any  food  that  is  tabooed,  they 
will  speedily  become  bald  and  prematurely  shrivelled  in 
body;  disease  and  death  will  come  upon  them,  and  their 
names  will  be  held  in  disgrace  among  their  relatives.''  ^ 
Similar  food  prohibitions  are  found  at  Torres  Straits  and 
among  the  New  Hebrides  and  other  Melanesian  islands.^ 
The  last  act  of  the  Fijian  Nanga  rites  is  the  Stsiliy  or 
Bath.  All  the  men  go  to  the  river  and  carefully  wash 
off^  all  the  paint  with  which  they  have  been  bedaubed. 


^  Withnell,  quoted  in  Amer.  An- 
thropologist,  new  series,  v  (1903),  382. 

^  Clement  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.j  xvi  (1903),  11. 

^  Schellong,  ibid.^  ii  (1889),  ^55- 

*  Ibid.,  161-162. 

^  Bartels  in  Verhandl.  Berlin. 
Gesells.  f.  Anthrop.  Ethnol.  u.  Urge- 


schichte,  xxvi  (1894),  200;  Hagen, 
Unter  den  Papua's,  236. 

^  Hagen,  op.  cit.,  234. 

^  Chalmers,  Pioneering  in  New 
Guinea,  181. 

^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  422. 

^  Haddon,  ibid.,  xix  (1890),  411. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS  69 


The  youths,  now  initiated,  are  then  led  before  the  elders  and 
the  chief  priest.  "He  delivers  to  them  an  impressive  dis- 
course on  the  new  position  they  have  assumed,  points  out 
to  them  the  duties  which  now  devolve  upon  them,  enjoins 
strict  observance  of  the  tribal  customs,  threatens  them  with 
the  sure  vengeance  of  the  gods  if  they  reveal  the  Nanga 
mysteries  to  the  uninitiated,  and  especially  warns  them 
against  eating  the  best  kinds  of  yams  and  other  vegetables. 
These,  together  with  fresh-water  fish  and  eels  caught  in  the 
river,  are  forbidden  to  them.  They  must  present  them  to  the 
elders,  and  content  themselves  with  wild  yams,  and  such 
articles  of  food  as  are  not  so  highly  esteemed.  As  the  black 
paint  with  which  they  were  adorned  mingled  with  the  water 
of  the  stream,  and  flowed  away  from  them  when  they  washed 
themselves,  so  also,  if  they  disobey  these  injunctions,  will 
the  comely  dark  colour  of  their  skins  disappear,  and  leave 
them  of  a  hideous  pallor,  a  spectacle  abhorrent  to  both  gods 
and  men."  ^  Among  the  Andaman  Islanders,  the 

fasting  period  begins  before  puberty  and  may  last  as  long  as 
five  years.  Turtle,  honey,  pork,  fish,  and  other  favorite 
articles  of  food  are  tabooed,  but  as  no  restrictions  are  placed 
on  other  articles  of  diet,  the  novices  do  not  suffer  much 
hardship.  The  tribal  chief  decides  when  the  fast  is  to  be 
given  up.  It  is  regarded  "as  a  test  of  the  endurance,  or, 
more  properly  speaking,  of  the  self-denial  of  young  persons, 
and  as  afi^ording  evidence  of  their  fitness  and  ability  to  support 
a  family."  ^  Soon  after  puberty  the  fast  is  broken  and 
instead  of  the  affix  dala^  the  prefix  guma  (  neophyte  or  novice) 
is  attached  to  the  boy's  birth-name;  this  term  is  retained 
until  the  boy  is  married  and  becomes  a  father,  when  the  word 
maiay  or  if  a  chief,  matola^  is  added,  by  which  he  is  known  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.^  No  one  who  has  not  attained  the  dignity 
of  guma  by  passing  through  initiation  may  eat  either  dugong 
or  porpoise.  It  is  necessary  "that  the  novice  should  be  fed, 
on  the  first  occasion  of  tasting  either  of  these  meats,  by  some 


^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiv  (1884),  26.  For  a  similar  Coast 
Murring  ceremony,  cf.  Howitt,  Native 
Tribes  of  South-East  Australia^  557. 


2  Man  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xii 
(1882),  130. 

3  Man,  loc.  cit. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


friend  or  relative,  who,  having  previously  passed  through  the 
prescribed  ordeal,  is  qualified  thereby  to  admit  others  to  the 
like  privilege."  ^  It  is  only  after  initiation  that 

the  Yaunde  youth  may  eat  the  flesh  of  sheep  and  goats. ^ 
Boys  of  the  Konkau  tribe  of  California  Indians,  after 
initiation  into  the  tribal  society,  must  eat  nothing  but 
acorn  porridge  for  ten  days.^  In  the  Ona  tribe  of 

Tierra  del  Fuego,  the  boys  at  puberty  "are  separated  from 
their  companions,  and  only  after  certain  cruel  trials  and  a 
period  of  probation  are  they  admitted  to  the  confidence  of  the 
older  men.  Now  this  probation,  known  as  'Clo'ct'n,'  lasts 
two  years  or  more.  During  this  time  the  young  brave  aban- 
dons the  protection  of  his  family,  hunting  in  strange  coverts 
and  making  long  journeys  alone.  The  utmost  that  is  allowed 
him  is  the  companionship  of  a  single  dog.  He  must  eat  lean, 
hard  meat,  with  no  fat  —  a  real  privation  even  for  whites  in 
that  bitter  climate.  A  diet  of  this  kind  begets,  as  is  well 
known,  a  strong  craving  for  breadstuflFs.  The  greatest  treat 
that  can  be  given  to  a  Fuegian  native  is  a  hard  ship's  biscuit; 
but  not  even  the  luxury  of  'hard  tack,'  ofi^ered  him  privily 
and  backed  by  a  ravenous  appetite,  will  induce  a  boy  to 
break  his  self-imposed  abstinence  when  he  is  'clo'ct'n. '"  ^ 
Where  the  number  of  women  is  limited  or  the  conditions 
of  existence  are  unusually  difficult,  full  marriage  privi- 
leges do  not  always  immediately  follow  the  attainment 
of  puberty.  Among  the  Tasmanians,  the  old  men  "who 
got  the  best  food,  and  held  the  franchise  of  the  tribe 
in  their  hands,  managed  to  secure  an  extra  supply 
of  the  prettiest  girls."  ^  The  Australian  elders 

seem  to  be  very  successful  in  monopolizing  the  women 
of  the  class  with  which  they  may  marry.  Betrothals 
are  exceedingly  common,  "  a  female  child  being  usually 
betrothed  by  her  guardians  to  some  elderly  friend  who 


^  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xii,  354. 
Mr.  Man  notes  the  resemblance  of 
these  Andamanese  rites  to  those 
of  the  Austrahan  Bora,  ibid.,  130  n.^. 
Cf.  Kloss,  In  the  Andamans  and 
Nicobars,  188. 

2  Morgen,  Durch  Kamerun  von 
Sud  nach  Nord,  51. 


^  Powers  in  Contributions  to  North 
American  Ethnology,  iii,  306. 

^  Barclay  in  The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury and  After,  January,  1904, 
99-100. 

^  Bonwick,  Daily  Life  and  Origin 
of  the  Tasmanians,  64-65. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS  71 

attaches  her  to  his  household  when  she  is  perhaps  not 
more  than  twelve  years  of  age.  Elderly  men  have  been  seen 
actually  nursing  children,  their  own  prospective  wives."  ^ 
Of  the  Queensland  natives,  Lumholtz  remarks  that,  as  a  rule, 
it  is  difficult  for  the  young  men  to  marry  before  they  are 
thirty.  ^^The  old  men  have  the  youngest  and  best-looking 
wives,  while  a  young  man  must  consider  himself  fortunate 
if  he  can  get  an  old  woman."  ^  Among  the  West  Kimberley 
natives,  it  is  ^^only  the  old  men  who  have  more  than  one  gin." 
After  subincision,  the  second  of  the  initiation  ceremonies, 
the  novice  ^^may  get  some  old  man's  cast-off  hag,  discarded 
for  a  younger  wife."  ^  In  some  of  the  New  South  Wales 
tribes,  after  the  boys  have  gone  through  the  Bora  they  are  not 
allowed  to  approach  a  woman  for  a  number  of  months. 
By  one  regulation  they  are  prohibited  from  coming  within 
three  hundred  yards  of  a  woman,^  by  another,  they  must  not 
permit  "any  woman's  shadow  to  fall  upon  them  until  the  old 
men  who  are  the  repositories  of  the  tribal  laws  and  traditions 
allow  it."  ^  In  the  Gringai  tribe  on  the  Hunter  River  the 
young  man  is  not  allowed  to  marry  until  three  years  after 
initiation.^  Novices  of  the  Lower  Murray  tribes  for  three 
months  after  initiation  may  not  look  at  a  woman,  "as  the 
sight  of  one  during  this  probation  would  be  the  means  of 
entailing  numberless  misfortunes,  such  as  withering  up  of 
limbs,  loss  of  eyesight,  and,  in  fact,  general  decrepitude."^ 
Restrictions  of  these  various  kinds,  enforced  during  the 
puberty  seclusion,  may  sometimes  be  continued  for  a  lengthy 
period  after  the  ordeals  are  over,  and  be  relaxed  only  by 
slow  degrees.  Many  Australian  tribes  require  the  youth  who 
has  been  through  a  Bora  to  live  for  a  long  time  afterwards 
as  a  probationer.  He  must  attend  several  Boras  before  he 
becomes  a  fully  accredited  tribesman.     In   some  cases 


^  Mathew,  Eaglehawk  and  Crow, 
113- 

^  Among  Cannibals,  163. 

^  Froggatt  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  second  series,  iii 
(1888),  653;  cf.  also  Clement  in 
Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr.,  xvi  (1903), 
13. 


^  Mackenzie  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  vii  (1878),  252. 

^  Mathews  in  Amer.  Anthropol- 
ogist, ix  (1896),  344. 

^  Howitt,  Native  Tribes  of  South- 
East  Australia,  571. 

^  Beveridge  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xvii  (1883),  27. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


he  must  suffer  a  second  or  even  a  third  time  the  rigors  of 
initiation.  Among  the  Booandik  of  South  AustraHa,  boys 
must  pass  through  the  depilation  ordeal  at  two  or  three 
inaugural  meetings  before  as  full  members  of  the  tribe  they 
are  allowed  to  marry.^  Narrinyeri  youth,  as  they  approach 
the  period  of  initiation,  may  not  cut  or  comb  their  hair. 
When  their  beards  have  grown  to  sufficient  length,  they  are 
made  narumbe^  or  young  men,  and  their  beards  are  plucked  out. 
They  continue  narumhe  until  their  beards  have  been  plucked 
out  three  times. ^  In  the  Euahlayi  tribe  of  northwestern 
New  South  Wales,  attendance  at  one  Bora  rite  entitled  a  man 
to  the  privileges  of  a  warrior.  But  a  native  must  have  been 
present  at  no  less  than  five  Bora  meetings  before  he  could  be- 
come one  of  the  Dorrunmai,  ''sort  of  chiefs  who  hold  councils 
of  war,  but  have  few  privileges  beyond  being  accepted  au- 
thorities as  to  war  and  hunting."  ^  Graduates  of  one  Ku- 
randa  must  pass  through  the  rites  at  two  or  three  subsequent 
meetings  before  they  can  take  a  wife.^  Attendance  at  five 
Keeparrasis  necessary  for  Port  Stephens  aborigines.^  Among 
the  Murumbidgee  natives,  on  the  return  of  the  boys  to  their 
separate  tribes  at  the  close  of  initiation,  they  are  put  under 
the  control  of  their  guardians  or  relatives.  They  may  not 
laugh  or  talk  loudly  until  they  reach  the  age  at  which  their 
voice  is  developed.  They  must  not  speak  to  women.  After 
a  time  they  may  approach  the  men's  camp  and  lodge  with  the 
single  men,  but  they  do  not  become  full  tribesmen  until  they 
have  attended  at  least  three  Burbongs,^  Coast  Murring 
novices  during  their  probation  gain  their  living  as  best  they 
can  by  "catching  such  food  animals  as  are  not  forbidden  to 
them.''  They  must  not  look  at  a  woman,  nor  speak  to  one.^ 
The  probationers,  while  under  the  charge  of  their  guardians, 
are  from  time  to  time  instructed  by  the  old  men.  When  the 
latter  decide  that  a  lad  is  competent  to  be  a  man,  he  may 


^  Mathews  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
SoCy  xxxix  (1900),  633. 

^  Taplin  in  Native  Tribes  of  South 
Australia  J  iS  sq. 

^  Mrs.   Parker,  Euahlayi  Tribe, 

81. 

*  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 


Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxii  (1898), 
245- 

^  Enright,  ibid.,  xxxiii  (1899), 
122. 

^  Mathews,  ibid.,  xxxi  (1897),  150. 
^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  455-456. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  ELDERS 


be  present  at  the  tribal  councils  as  a  silent  member.  Still 
later  is  he  permitted  to  take  the  wife  who  has  been  assigned 
him/  Fijian  youth  were  compelled  to  attend  two 

Nangas  before  they  could  become  fully  initiated  men.  This 
meant,  a  period  of  probation  for  at  least  two  years. ^ 
Among  the  Basutos  the  initiatory  rites  occupied  three 
terms''  with  a  ^Vacation"  period  of  about  three  years 
between  each  term.^  Among  some  of  the  Yoruba  tribes  the 
boy  must  remain  under  the  control  of  the  presiding  elders 
of  the  tribal  society  until  he  has  killed  a  man.  He  is  held 
to  have  attained  his  majority  "by  having  demonstrated  his 
courage  and  also  by  having  secured  for  himself  the  soul  of  the 
man  he  has  killed  as  a  spirit  slave. "  ^ 


^  Howitt,  loc.  cit.  For  additional 
examples  from  Australia,  see  Mathews 
in  Amer.  Anthropologist,  new  series, 
ii  (1900),  144;  id.,  Jour,  and  Proc. 
Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxi 
(1897),  150;  id.,  Jour,  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  XXV  (1896),  339. 


^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop,  Inst., 
xiv  (1884),  15. 

^  Wheelwright  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  XXXV  (1905),  255. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 
Africa,  532. 


CHAPTER  VI 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 

The  initiation  ceremonies  which  have  been  up  to  this  point 
the  subject  of  study,  present  certain  clearly  marked  character- 
istics. Above  all  they  are  tribal:  every  male  member  of  the 
community  must  at  some  time  or  another  have  passed  through 
them.  They  are  secret  and  jealously  guarded  from  the  eyes 
of  the  uninitiated.  They  are  communal  rites,  and  the 
occasion  of  great  festive  celebrations  which  call  out  every 
member  of  the  tribe  and  absorb  his  energies  over  a  protracted 
period.  They  are  organized  and  conducted  by  the  elders 
who  are  the  responsible  guardians  of  the  state.  They  have 
a  definite  and  reasonable  purpose :  the  young  men  growing 
into  manhood  must  learn  their  duties  as  members  of  the 
community;  they  must  be  schooled  in  the  traditions  and 
moral  regulations  developed  through  long  periods  of  tribal 
experience.  On  the  transmission  and  perpetuation  of  this 
experience,  the  life  of  the  community  depends.  In  a  state 
of  society  destitute  of  centralized  political  control  such 
puberty  rites  constitute  the  most  effective  means  of  providing 
that  subordination  of  the  interests  of  the  individual  to 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  without  which  social  progress 
cannot  be  long  maintained.  The  initiatory  institutions 
found  among  the  most  primitive  peoples  in  every  quarter 
of  the  globe  answer  to  the  most  definite  and  impera- 
tive of  social  requirements.  Whatever  else  they  may  in  time 
become,  tribal  initiation  ceremonies  at  the  outset  are  not  an 
organized  cheat. 

But  when,  under  the  influence  of  various  conditions,  there 
develops  in  every  progressive  society  a  definite  centralization 
of  authority,  the  shifting  of  social  control  from  the  elders 
to  the  tribal  chiefs  renders  unnecessary  the  entire  machinery 

74 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  75 


of  tribal  initiation.  For  obedience  to  the  tribe  is  substituted 
obedience  to  the  chief.  Initiation  ceremonies,  such  as  have 
been  studied,  retain  their  democratic  and  tribal  aspects  only 
in  societies  which  have  not  yet  emerged  from  that  primitive 
stage  in  w^hich  all  social  control  is  in  the  hands  of  the  tribal 
elders.  The  presence  of  ceremonies  of  this  character 
throughout  Australia  and  Nev^  Guinea  is  to  be  associated 
with  the  absence  of  definite  and  permanent  chieftainships 
in  these  islands.  Such  ascendancy  as  may  be  gained  by  the 
possession  of  great  wealth,  or  by  a  reputation  for  wisdom 
and  prowess,  is  but  temporary  and  local,  extending  no  farther 
than  the  petty  confines  of  the  village  or  local  group.  In 
Melanesia  and  Africa,  political  centralization  has  resulted 
to  a  large  degree  in  the  establishment  of  chieftainships 
powerful  over  a  considerable  area  and  often  hereditary  in 
nature.  But  this  process  has  not  continued  so  far  as  to 
make  possible  the  entire  surrender  to  the  tribal  chiefs  of 
those  functions  of  social  control  which  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
society  rest  with  the  elders  alone.  The  secret  societies 
which  have  everywhere  arisen  on  the  basis  of  the  puberty 
institutions,  appear  in  Africa  and  Melanesia  as  organizations 
charged  with  the  performance  of  important  political  and 
judicial  functions.  In  communities  where  the  political 
powers  of  the  chiefs  are  as  yet  in  a  formative  stage,  the  secret 
societies  provide  effective  social  restraints  and  supplement 
the  governmental  activities  of  the  earliest  rulers.  With 
developing  political  centralization  such  functions  tend  to 
become  obsolete  and  the  religious  and  dramatic  aspects  of 
the  societies  assume  the  most  important  place.  This  last 
stage  is  reached  both  in  Polynesia  and  North  America, 
where  we  find  aristocratic  conditions  in  process  of  formation 
and  powerful  chieftainships  (in  Polynesia  hereditary  rulers) 
already  established.  Under  these  conditions  tribal  secret 
societies  have  developed  into  fraternities  of  priests  or  shamans 
who  are  intrusted  with  the  performance  of  the  religious  rites 
of  the  community.^ 

As  contrasted  with  primitive  puberty  institutions  such  as 
those  of  the  Australian  natives,  the  secret  societies  found 

^  Infray  chap.  x. 


76  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


among  Melanesian  and  African  peoples  are  organizations 
more  or  less  narrowly  limited  in  membership,  divided  into 
degrees,  through  which  candidates  able  to  pay  the  cost  of 
initiation  may  progress,  and  localized  usually  in  some  defi- 
nite lodge,  where  the  members  resort  for  their  mysterious 
ceremonies.  The  use  of  the  masks,  bull-roarers,  and  other 
devices  serves  at  once  to  emphasize  the  pretended  association 
of  the  members  of  these  societies  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead, 
and  to  terrify  and  overawe  those  who  are  not  admitted  into 
the  mysteries.^    Possessing  in  addition  to  their  judicial  and 


'  Definite  localization  of  the  in- 
itiation ceremonies  is  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  permanent  tribal  settle- 
ments. When  a  tribe  has  no  settled 
existence,  a  lodge"  in  the  modern 
sense  is  impossible.  The  Bora 
ground  serves  well  the  purposes  of 
the  Austrahan  natives,  who  use  it 
frequently  for  a  number  of  cere- 
monies and  guard  its  sanctity  by 
various  taboos.  The  tribe  which 
issues  the  call  for  initiation  has  always 
the  important  duty  of  preparing  the 
grounds  before  the  arrival  of  the 
various  contingents.  Women  and 
uninitiated  boys  are  strictly  forbidden 
to  approach  the  Bora  ground.  This 
prohibition  even  extends  to  the  in- 
itiated of  a  lower  degree;  among  the 
South  Australian  natives,  a  circum- 
cised youth  could  not  enter  the  place 
where  subincision  had  been  practised 
(Mathews  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
Soc,  xxxix,  1900,  630).  The  sanc- 
tity of  the  Bora  ground  is  further 
secured  by  the  general  belief  that  the 
medicine-men  have  scattered  over 
it  magical  articles  which  would  be 
dangerous  to  a  trespasser  (Howitt 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiii,  1884, 
452  n.^).  So  the  Dukduk  is  supposed 
to  leave  behind  in  the  bush  after  his 
visitation  of  a  village,  carved  figures 
intended  to  be  harmful  to  the  dis- 
trict. Any  sudden  catastrophe  or  a 
sudden  death  would  be  attributed  to 
the  presence  of  these  objects  (Romilly, 


The  Western  Pacific  and  New 
Guinea,  34-35).  The  Nanga  en- 
closures of  the  Fijians  are  especially 
interesting,  because  we  may  see  in 
them  the  Bora  grounds  hardened, 
as  it  were,  into  a  permanent  place 
for  the  celebration  of  the  tribal  rites. 
The  men's  house  of  New  Guinea, 
as  has  been  pointed  out,  is  now  used 
for  initiation  purposes.  The  lodges 
of  the  Melanesian  and  African 
societies  are  frequently  adaptations 
of  this  primitive  institution  {supra, 
chap.  i). 

The  widespread  custom  of  wearing 
masks  at  the  ceremonies,  though 
now  largely  employed  in  the  service 
of  terror  and  superstition,  may  have 
had  its  origin  in  the  behef  which 
expresses  itself  in  the  masked  dances 
of  many  primitive  peoples  —  that 
the  wearer  of  the  m^ask,  simulating 
a  deity  or  departed  spirit,  is  thereby 
assimilated  to  the  real  nature  of  the 
being  represented;  that  he  is  for 
the  time  possessed  by  the  spirit  and 
has  lost  his  own  personaHty.  Like 
the  bull-roarers,  the  masks  have  a 
sacred  significance  which  often  sur- 
vives long  after  the  downfall  of  the 
rites  in  which  they  were  used. 
Professor  Haddon,  at  Murray  Is- 
land, had  some  of  the  natives  make 
models  of  the  masks  formerly  worn 
at  initiation.  Having  incautiously 
shown  them  to  a  woman,  he  was 
visited  by  the  makers  who,  in  great 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  77 


political  functions  many  rights  and  privileges  debarred  to  the 
uninitiated,  the  initiates  of  the  great  tribal  societies  constitute 


agitation,  besought  him  not  to  let  a 
woman  see  them.  *^The  ceremonies 
had  not  been  held  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  the  people  are  all  Christian, 
and  yet  even  now  a  woman  may  not 
see  cardboard  models  of  the  tabooed 
masks"  {Head-Hunters,  47).  The 
Australian  natives  do  not  appear  to 
have  developed  the  mask  proper,  but 
in  the  ceremonies  various  disguises 
are  sometimes  used.  At  the  rites 
of  the  Coast  Murring  some  of  the 
performers  wore  hideous  disguises 
made  by  beating  out  stringy  bark 
fibres  into  what  resembled  tow. 
Their  bodies  were  completely  cov- 
ered and  huge  wigs  were  made,  leav- 
ing visible  only  the  face  which  was 
distorted  by  strings  tied  across  the 
nose  and  reverting  the  lips  (Howitt 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiii  (1884), 
446  n.^'j  id..  Native  Tribes  of  South- 
East  Australia,  53^-539 ;  cf.  Mathews 
in  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Victoria,  new 
series,  ix,  1897,  156).  The  make-up 
of  the  performers  at  the  Engwura 
rites  of  the  Arunta  is  fully  described  by 
Messrs.  Spencer  and  Gillen  {Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  294  sq., 
3 18,  330  sq.  See  also  Northern  Tribes 
of  Central  Australia,  177  sq.).  On 
the  use  of  masks  by  different  peoples 
httle  can  be  added  to  the  careful 
accounts  by  Bastian,  ^'Masken  und 
Maskereien,"  Zeits.  f.  Vdlkerpsycholo- 
gie und SprachwissenschaftjXiv  (1883), 
335*358;  Andree,  ^'Die  Masken 
in  der  Volkerkunde,"  in  Archiv  f. 
Anthrop.,  xvi  (1886),  477-506;  re- 
printed in  his  Ethnographische  Paral- 
lelen  und  Vergleiche,  second  series, 
107-165 ;  and  W.  H.  Ball, ' '  On  Masks, 
Labrets,  and  Certain  Aboriginal  Cus- 
toms," Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1884),  73-151.  The 
work  by  Frobenius,  ^'Die  Masken 
und  Geheimbiinde  Afrikas,"  Ab- 
handl.    Kaiserlichen  Leopoldmisch- 


Carolinischen  Deuts.  Akad.  der  Na- 
turforscher,  Ixxiv  (Halle,  1899),  1-266, 
is  chiefly  valuable  for  its  careful 
study  of  African  masks.  On  the 
African  phases  of  this  subject,  see 
also  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore,  xii 
(1899),  208-211;  Serrurier  in  Intern. 
Archiv  f.  Ethnogr.,  i  (1888),  154-159; 
and  Karutz,  ibid.,  xvi  (1903),  123- 
127.  The  Dresden  Museum  has 
published  some  elaborate  descrip- 
tions and  figurings  of  Melanesian 
masks.  A  full  bibliography  is  given 
in  the  monograph  by  W.  Foy, 
^^Tanzobjekte  von  Bismarck  Archi- 
pel,  Nissan,  und  Buka,"  Publica- 
tionen  aus  dem  Kdniglichen  Ethno- 
graphischen  Museum  zu  Dresden, 
xiii  (1900),  22-23.  Further  ref- 
erences are  given  by  Bartels,  ''Ueber 
Schadelmasken  aus  Neu-Britannien," 
Festschrift  fiir  Adolf  Bastian  (Ber- 
lin, 1896),  233-245. 

The  bull-roarer  which  survived 
in  the  Greek  mysteries  as  the  po/jLjSos 
is  one  of  the  most  widespread 
of  primitive  instruments.  Its  use 
in  initiation  ceremonies  is  universal 
in  Australia  and  New  Guinea,  and 
it  is  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
Melanesia  and  Africa.  Mr.  J.  W. 
Fewkes  found  the  Zuni  and  Hopi 
priests  carrying  bull-roarers  in  their 
rain  ceremonies  {Jour.  Amer.  Eth- 
nol. and  Archceol.,  i  (1891),  15, 
23  n.^).  Captain  Bourke  noticed 
their  use  for  similar  purposes  by  the 
Apache  {Ninth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.,  476-477),  and  more  recently 
Professor  Haddon  discovered  like 
practices  at  Murray  Island,  Torres 
Straits  {Head-Hunters,  33).  Mr. 
Howitt  was  told  by  the  Coast  Mur- 
ring natives  that  the  noise  of  the 
mudji  represents  the  muttering  of 
the  thunder  —  the  voice  of  the  tribal 
god  '''calling  to  the  rain  to  fall  and 
make  the  grass  grow  up  green'" 


78  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


a  rude  but  powerful  aristocracy  in  communities  made  up 
in  addition,  of  women,  children,  and  uninitiated  men. 

No  doubt  in  many  cases  the  decline  of  the  earlier  puberty 
institutions  has  not  been  associated  with  the  rise  of  secret 
societies.  A  process  of  gradual  decay,  its  outcome  the  com- 
plete obsolescence  of  the  ceremonies,  would  then  take  place. 
An  examination  of  the  initiatory  practices  of  some  of  the 
Australian  tribes,  for  example,  seems  to  indicate  that  decay 
had  set  in  even  before  the  arrival  of  European  colonists. 
Among  some  of  the  western  tribes  of  Victoria,  according  to 
one  account,  a  boy  at  puberty  is  taken  by  his  brothers-in- 
law,  or,  if  he  has  none,  by  strangers  from  a  distant  tribe,  to  a 
far-off  part  of  the  tribal  territory  "where  he  is  received  with 
welcome  by  his  new  friends.  After  two  moons  he  is  allowed 
to  visit  his  own  tribe,  but  not  without  several  men  to  take 
care  of  him  and  bring  him  back.''  He  is  well  treated  through- 
out this  period  and  his  wants  liberally  supplied.  After 
twelve  months  his  relatives  call  and  bring  him  to  the  first 
great  meeting  of  the  tribes.  Before  leaving,  they  pull  out 
all  the  hairs  of  his  beard,  and  make  him  drink  water  mixed 
with  mud;  which  completes  his  initiation  into  manhood.''  ^ 


{Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiii  (1884), 
446).  At  Kiwai  Island,  in  the 
Papuan  Gulf,  whirling  of  the 
maduha,  or  bull-roarer,  insures  *'a 
good  crop  of  yams,  sweet  po- 
tatoes, and  bananas"  (Haddon  in 
Rep.  Cambr.  Anthrop.,  Expedition 
to  Torres  Straits,  v,  218).  Noticing 
the  ideas  of  fertiHty  connected  with 
the  bull-roarer,  Mr.  Frazer  suggests 
that  since  the  great  change  which 
takes  place  at  puberty  consists  in 
the  development  of  the  power  of 
reproduction,  and  since  ^'the  in- 
itiatory rites  of  savages  are  apparently 
intended  to  celebrate,  if  not  to  bring 
about,  that  change,  and  to  confirm 
and  establish  that  power,"  the  bull- 
roarer  may  be  the  implement  by 
which  sexual  power  is  imparted  to 
the  males  {Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,   viii,   Melbourne,    1901,  318). 


On  the  bull-roarer  in  general,  see 
Fison  and  Howitt,  Kdmilaroi  and 
Kurnai,  267-269;  Haddon,  The 
Study  of  Man,  277-327;  Lang, 
Custom  and  Myth,  29-44;  Mathews, 
Bull-roarers  used  by  the  Australian 
Aborigines,"  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxvii  (1897),  52-60;  Schmeltz  in 
Verhandl.  des  Vereins  fiir  Natur- 
wissenschaflliche  Unterhaltung  zu 
Hamburg,  ix  (1896),  92-127.  On 
its  employment  in  the  Greek  mys- 
teries, see  Adolf  Bastian,  Allerlei  aus 
Volks-  und  Menschenkunde  (Berlin, 
1888),  i,  291.  For  a  collection  of 
some  of  the  numerous  examples  of 
its  use  among  primitive  peoples,  see 
the  note  in  The  Golden  Bough 
(London,  1900),  iii,  424  n.^. 

^  Dawson,  Australian  Aborigines, 

30. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  79 


Another  emasculated  ceremony  once  practised  by  coast  tribes 
of  Victoria  was  the  Tidbut,  The  youth  was  led  to  an  isolated 
place  where  his  head  was  shaved  and  covered  with  clay. 
His  body  was  then  daubed  with  mud  and  filth  and  in  this 
condition  he  was  required  to  go  through  the  camp  for  several 
days  and  nights,  throwing  filth  at  whomever  he  met.  Finally 
he  was  given  over  to  the  women,  who  washed  him,  painted 
his  face,  and  danced  before  him.^  The  Nanga  cere- 

monies of  the  Fijians  seem  to  have  lost  whatever  rigor  and 
harshness  may  have  been  theirs  originally.  Novices  under- 
went no  ordeals  during  their  seclusion.  Circumcision,  which 
must  have  been  an  initiatory  rite  at  an  earlier  time,  was  appar- 
ently unconnected  with  the  introduction  of  the  young  men  to 
the  tribe.  It  was  only  practised,  presumably  as  a  propitiatory 
measure,  when  a  chief  or  other  important  personage  was  ill. 
The  sick  man's  son,  or  one  of  his  brother's  sons,  was  then 
led  to  the  Nanga  and  there  circumcised  by  the  priest,  who 
afterwards  performed  the  rite  upon  several  other  boys  at  the 
same  time.  Following  the  operation  was  a  great  feast  and  a 
period  of  general  sexual  license.  The  decadence  of  the 
Fijian  rites  is  further  indicated  by  the  fact  that  initiation 
into  the  tribe  was  not  necessary  for  marriage.  A  boy  might 
take  possession  of  a  girl  who  had  been  betrothed  to  him  as 
soon  as  he  considered  her  old  enough.^  Among 
the  Andaman  Islanders  the  absence  of  secrecy  and  harshness 
in  the  conduct  of  the  rites  affords  a  parallel  to  the  Fijian 
development.^  Other  illustrations  are  not  wanting.  At 
Daudai,  British  New  Guinea,  the  principal  puberty  rite  is 
now  merely  a  feast  at  which  the  health  of  the  lads  is  drunk  in 
an  intoxicating  liquor.  Even  a  period  of  seclusion  is  not 
compulsory.    The  lads,  however,  usually  remain  in  the  men's 


^  Smyth,  Aborigines  of  Victoria,  i, 
60-61.  Cf.  also  Howitt  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiv  (1885),  322  sq.; 
Mathews  in  Amer.  Anthropologist, 
xi  (1898),  330.  The  ceremonies  of 
the  Larakia  tribe  in  the  Port  Darwin 
district  of  Central  Australia,  present 
another  type  of  emasculated  rites. 
Curiously  enough   neither  circum- 


cision nor  subincision  is  practised 
by  this  tribe.  Cf.  Spencer  and  Gillen, 
Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Aus- 
tralia, 331-332. 

^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiv  (1884),  23  sq. 

2  Cf.  Man  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xii  (1882),  130  sq. 


8o  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


house  for  several  days  while  they  deck  themselves  so  as  to 
attract  the  favorable  notice  of  the  w^omen.^  At 
Uripiv,  one  of  the  New  Hebrides,  the  rules  of  the  duli^  or 
period  of  confinement,  are  not  very  strict,  and  the  young  men 
undergoing  it  ''have  no  superstitious  dread  of  breaking  it 
through  in  some  particulars,  but  do  not  let  the  old  men  of 
the  village  see  them  do  so,  for  it  is  they  who  institute  and  keep 
the  custom  alive."  ^  Among  the  Bogos  of  Western 

Abyssinia,  the  arrival  of  a  lad  at  puberty  is  celebrated  with 
a  festival  called  Schingalet^  which  lasts  seven  days.  The  boy 
collects  several  comrades  and  visits  his  relatives  and  acquaint- 
ances to  receive  gifts.  From  this  time  he  is  endowed  with 
all  the  privileges  of  a  citizen.^  Among  some  of  the 

Brazilian  aborigines  the  tribal  secrets  appear  to  be  in  process 
of  degeneration.  Among  the  Nahuqua  and  Mehinaku,  a 
recent  investigator  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  both  dance- 
masks  and  bull-roarers  from  the  house  where  they  were  kept. 
Their  use  was  publicly  exhibited  to  him,  and  the  women 
were  not  compelled  to  retire  when  these  articles,  formerly 
so  sacred,  were  brought  out.  But  with  the  Bororo,  the  bull- 
roarers  are  still  guarded  with  the  usual  secrecy;  should  a 
woman  see  them,  she  would  surely  die.^  Similarly, 
the  bull-roarer,  found  throughout  North  Queensland, 
in  the  north-west-central  districts  is  used  indiscrim- 
inately by  either  sex  and  at  any  age.  On  the  Bloomfield, 
Lower  Tully,  and  at  Cape  Grafton  it  is  used  by  men  and  boys 
only.  In  these  latter  districts  the  method  of  using  the  bull- 
roarer  is  taught  the  boys  at  their  first  initiation  so  that  they 
can  play  it  in  public  and  before  the  women.^ 

In  some  cases,  initiatory  rites  of  a  primitive  character  may 
continue  in  existence  even  after  the  development  of  per- 
manent chieftainships.  Under  such  circumstances  the  chiefs 
often  utilize  them  for  the  furtherance  of  their  own  power. 

^  Beardmore    in    Jour.  Anthrop,         *  Von   den   Steinen,    Unter  den 

Inst.,  xix  (1890),  460.  Naturvolkern  Zentral-Brasiliens,  327, 

^  Somerville  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  497. 
xxiii  (1893),  5.  ^  Roth  in  North  Queensland  Eth- 

^  Munzinger,  Uher  die  Sitten  und  nography,  Bulletin  no.  4  (Brisbane, 

das  Recht  der  Bogos,  38-39.  1902),  14-15. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  8i 


Among  most  of  the  South  African  tribes,  the  puberty  institu- 
tion has  a  civil  rather  than  a  reHgious  character.  Some- 
thing akin  to  the  Teutonic  comitatus  has  come  into  existence. 
All  the  children  born  about  the  same  epoch  as  the  son  of  a 
chief  are  circumcised  at  puberty  with  him.  The  brother- 
hood so  formed  takes  the  name  of  the  young  chieftain  who 
presides  at  the  rite,  and  its  members  become  his  companions 
for  life.  Among  the  Bechuanas  and  Kaffirs,  the  boys  during 
seclusion  are  taught  the  essentials  of  African  politics.  *'It 
is  an  ingenious  plan  for  attaching  the  members  of  the  tribe 
to  the  chief's  family,  and  for  imparting  a  discipHne  which 
renders  the  tribe  easy  of  command.''  ^  The  members  of  these 
brotherhoods  are  supposed  ''never  to  give  evidence  against 
one  another,  and  it  is  a  great  offence  for  any  of  them  to  eat 
food  alone  if  their  comrades  are  near.  In  fact,  the  friend- 
ship is  greater  than  is  that  between  men  in  England  who  go 
up  to  the  University  together."^  In  the  Ancho- 

rites Islands  a  precisely  similar  arrangement  has  come  into 
existence.  The  necessary  period  of  initiatory  seclusion  lasts 
here  several  years.  Its  beginning  is  fixed  upon  by  the  chief, 
who,  when  his  own  children  or  those  of  his  relations  have 
reached  the  age  of  puberty,  orders  their  initiation  along  with 
the  children  of  his  dependents,  who  have  attained  a  corre- 
sponding age.  All  the  young  men  thus  initiated  remain  the 
friends  of  the  chief  in  later  life  and  are  called  his  people.  A 
chief  has  no  power  over  a  man  who  did  not  in  this  manner  owe 
his  initiation  to  him.^ 

With  the  emergence  of  a  social  organization  in  which 
political  control  is  centralized  within  the  ranks  of  a  narrowly 
limited  aristocracy  of  chiefs  and  leading  men,  primitive 


^  Livingstone,  Missionary  Travels, 
i66. 

^  Kidd,  The  Essential  Kafir,  206. 
For  further  examples  among  the 
Amaxosa,  Ovaherero,  Basutos,  Sotho, 
and  other  tribes,  see  Endemann  in 
Zeits.  f.  EthnoL,  vi  (1874),  37-38; 
Fritsch,  Die  Eingehorenen  Sud- 
Afrika^s,  206,  235;  Casalis,  Les 
Bassoutos,  277;  Lubbert  in  Mitth. 
V.  Forschungsreisenden  und  Gelehrten 

G 


aus  den  Deulschen  Schutzgehieten, 
xiv  (1901),  89;  Theal,  History 
of  South  Africa,  ii,  205-206;  Alberti, 
Die  Kaffern  auf  der  SudkUste  von 
Afrika  (Gotha,  1815),  138;  Gottsch- 
ling  in  Jour,  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxv 

(1905),  372. 

^  Kubary  in  Die  Ethnographisch- 
Anthropologische  Abtheilung  des 
Museum  Godeffroy  (Hamburg,  1881), 
452-455- 


82  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


initiation  ceremonies  maybe  retained,  but  with  the  loss  of  their 
democratic  features.  In  such  instances  they  are  often  re- 
served to  the  governing  class.  The  beginnings  of  such  a  devel- 
opment may  perhaps  be  seen  in  those  Melanesian  societies 
w^here  the  initiated  are  the  sons  of  chiefs  alone;  or  where 
the  higher  degrees  may  be  taken  only  by  those  who  from 
political  power  or  the  possession  of  great  wealth,  form,  in 
fact,  an  aristocratic  ruling  class.  In  Malanta,  one  of  the 
Solomon  Islands,  puberty  initiation  rites  for  the  common 
people  have  been  discarded.  But  at  Saa,  in  Malanta,  the 
chief's  son  goes  early  to  the  Oha^  or  canoe-house  and  public 
hall,  while  common  children  still  eat  and  sleep  at  home. 
Formerly,  boys  used  to  go  into  the  Oha  and  remain  in  se- 
clusion for  years.  At  the  close  of  their  confinement  a 
great  feast  was  held  and  the  boys  came  out  as  young  men.^ 
Among  the  Maori  of  New  Zealand,  so  far  as  our  infor- 
mation goes,  there  were  no  secret  societies  and  no  special 
ceremonies  at  puberty  for  the  initiation  of  common  people. 
But  the  eldest  son  of  the  head  chief  of  a  tribe  had  to  undergo 
rites  at  puberty  which  recall  the  earlier  tribal  ceremonies. 
He  must  be  initiated  ''into  the  secrets  of  all  priestcraft  and 
witchcraft  as  Arikioi  the  people.''  ^  There  was  no  pretence 
of  killing  the  novice,  and  other  usual  accompaniments  of 
initiation  ceremonies  were  lacking;  but  it  is  of  some  signifi- 
cance that  women  could  not  go  near  a  young  chief  during 
this  initiation  period.^  The  ancient  Mexican  cus- 

tom whereby  a  man  might  obtain  the  rank  of  Tecuhtliy 
or  chieftain,  by  demonstrating  his  powers  to  undergo  for  a 
protracted  period  the  most  rigorous  ordeals  of  the  usual 
initiatory  character,  seems  another  survival  of  the  same 
nature.^  The  Ponkas  and  other  Siouan  tribes  had 

various  sacred  and  mysterious  rites  at  the  initiation  or 
inauguration  of  their  chiefs.^ 


^  Codrington,  The  Melanesians, 
233-234. 

^  Tregear  in  Jour.  Anthrop,  Inst., 
xix  (1889),  99. 
^  Ibid,,  100. 

^  For  a  description,  see  Bandelier 
in  Twelfth  Ann.  Rep.  Peabody  Mu- 


seum (Cambridge,  1880),  642-643. 
Similar  ceremonies  existed  among 
the  Orinoco  Indians  and  the  Peru- 
vians {ibid.,  643  n.). 

^  Dorsey  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.y  359  sq. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  83 


In  spite  of  these  divergencies  in  development,  it  is  still 
possible  to  make  out  the  main  lines  along  which  the  evolution 
of  the  primitive  puberty  institution  has  proceeded.  Hov^- 
ever  striking  may  be  the  differences  between  such  an  institu- 
tion as  the  Bora  of  the  Australian  natives  and  a  tribal  secret 
society  like  the  Dukduk  of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago  or  the 
Egbo  of  West  Africa,  they  appear,  in  the  last  analysis,  to  be 
due  fundamentally  to  the  changes  brought  about  when  once 
the  principle  of  limitation  of  membership  is  introduced. 
The  process  which  converts  the  puberty  institution  into  the 
secret  societies  of  peoples  more  advanced  in  culture,  seems  in 
general  to  be  that  of  the  gradual  shrinkage  of  the  earlier 
inclusive  and  democratic  organization  consisting  of  all  the 
members  of  the  tribe.  The  outcome  of  this  process,  on  the 
one  hand,  is  a  limitation  of  the  membership  of  the  organization 
to  those  only  who  are  able  to  satisfy  the  necessary  entrance 
requirements;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  establishment  in 
the  fraternity  so  formed  of  various  degrees  through  which 
candidates  may  pass  in  succession.  With  the  fuller  develop- 
ment of  secret  society  characteristics,  these  degrees  become 
more  numerous,  and  passage  through  them  more  costly. 
The  members  of  the  higher  degrees,  forming  an  inner  circle 
of  picked  initiates,  then  control  the  organization  in  their  own 
interests. 

The  grades  or  degrees  which  constitute  so  noteworthy  a 
feature  of  the  secret  societies  in  their  developed  form,  appear 
to  have  originated  in  the  system  of  age-classifications  in  use 
among  many  primitive  peoples.^  The  best  examples  of  this 
practice  are  to  be  sought  in  Australia  and  Africa.^ 

The  Australian  evidence  presents  the  initiatory  rites  as 
divided  into  several  stages  or  degrees  corresponding  in  gen- 
eral to  age  distinctions,  through  which  the  candidate  passes 
as  he  develops  into  the  complete  maturity  of  manhood.  In 
some  cases  the  advanced  grades,  no  longer  open  to  every 
tribesman,  have  become  the  special  possession  of  a  limited 
class.  Among  the  Tasmanians,  most  primitive  of  peoples, 
''there  existed  three  distinct  classes,  or  social  gradations, 

*  Supra,  20.  ^  For  examples  from  North  Amer- 

ica, infra,  130-134. 


84  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


which  were  attained  through  age  and  fidehty  to  the  tribe; 
but  it  was  only  the  third  class  which  was  initiated  into  the 
hidden  mysteries,  and  possessed  the  power  of  regulating  its 
[the  tribe's]  affairs.  Secrecy  was  usually  observed  in  the 
ceremonies  of  admitting  the  youth  to  the  first  class,  and  in 
raising  those  of  the  first  to  the  second,  but  the  secrecy  was 
most  rigidly  observed  whenever  an  initiation  into  the  third 
class  took  place/'  ^  The  Adelaide  tribes  of  South 

Australia  arranged  initiation  in  five  stages,  all  of  which  were 
to  be  passed  through  before  the  rank  of  Bourka^  or  full-grown 
man,  could  be  reached.  These  stages  corresponded  roughly 
to  the  different  age  periods:  the  fourth,  attained  when  the 
youth  was  about  twenty,  marked  full  maturity;  the  fifth 
was  "only  attained  when  the  individual  is  getting  grey- 
headed." ^  The  three  degrees  necessary  for  Port  Lincoln 
natives  ''constitute  three  distinct  epochs  in  their  lives." 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  they  take  the  first  degree  and  are 
styled  Warraras ;  a  few  years  later,  having  undergone  cir- 
cumcision, they  become  fFityalkinyeSy  and  are  allowed 
to  marry.  ''As  a  proof  of  the  significance  they  attach  to 
these  strange  rites  and  customs,  it  may  be  instanced  that  it 
is  considered  insulting  if  one  of  a  higher  degree  taunts  his 
adversary  with  the  lower  degree  he  still  occupies."  ^  Among 
the  Dieri  there  are  six  stages,  the  completion  of  which  is 
requisite  for  the  fully  initiated  tribesman.  Between  the 
ages  of  five  and  ten,  the  septum  of  the  lad  is  pierced;  this 
rite  is  followed  at  about  twelve  years  of  age  by  the  extraction 
of  two  front  teeth,  and  later  by  circumcision.  The  fourth 
degree  is  taken  when  the  lad  receives  a  formal  smearing  with 
blood  and  the  marks  of  scarification.  Mindari^  or  attend- 
ance at  certain  totemic  ceremonies,  and  Kulpiy  or  subincis- 
ion,  constitute  the  final  degrees.^  The  Arunta  and 

Ilpirra  arrangements  may  be  profitably  compared  with  those 
of  the  Dieri.    Among  these  tribes  there  are  four  clearly 

^  Barnard  in  Rep,  Austr.  Assoc.         ^  Wilhelmi  in  Trans.  Roy.  Soc. 

Adv.  Sci.,  ii  (Sidney,  1890),  602-603.  Victoria^  v  (i860),  188. 

^  Eyre,  Journals  of  Expeditions  of         *  Gason  in  The  Native  Tribes  of 

Discovery  into  Central  Australia,  ii,  South  Australia,  266  sq. 
336. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  85 


marked  stages :  Alkirakiwumaj  the  painting  and  throwing 
the  boy  in  the  air,  a  rite  which  takes  place  when  he  is  be- 
tween ten  and  twelve  years  of  age ;  Lartna^  or  circumcision, 
performed  soon  after  the  arrival  of  puberty;  Ariltha^  or 
subincision,  which  follows  as  soon  as  the  boy  has  recovered 
from  the  former  operation ;  and  Engwura^  the  fire  ceremony, 
last  and  most  impressive  of  the  series.  Natives  are  some- 
times twenty-five  or  even  thirty  years  old  before  they  undergo 
the  Engwura}  On  the  basis  of  these  degrees  arise  the 
"status''  names  which  indicate  at  once  the  position  in  the 
tribal  ceremonies  attained  by  the  holders.  Before  initiation, 
an  Arunta  boy  is  Ambaquerkaj  or  child.  After  the  first 
ceremony  he  is  called  Ulpmerka,^  at  the  close  of  this  interval 
and  immediately  preceding  circumsision  he  is  Wurtja; 
after  circumcision,  Arakurta;  after  subincision,  Ertwa- 
kurkdy  or  initiated  man.^  During  the  latter  part  of  the 
Engwura  rites,  the  young  men  are  known  collectively  as 
Ilpongwurra;  and  only  after  they  have  gone  through  the 
long  series  of  fire  ordeals  which  close  the  ceremonies,  do  they 
graduate  as  Urliaray  or  fully  initiated  men.*  The 
rites  of  the  Kimberley  natives  of  Western  Australia  exhibit 
a  similar  arrangement  by  degrees.  Until  five  years  of  age 
the  boy  is  called  Tadup,  He  then  becomes  a  ChookadoOy 
and  is  usually  given  as  a  boy-wife  to  one  of  the  young  men. 
When  about  ten  years  old,  the  severe  initiation  rites  begin  in 
earnest.  After  circumcision  and  the  knocking  out  of  his 
two  upper  front  teeth,  he  is  known  as  Balillie.  A  year  later 
come  subincision  and  cicatrization,  which  make  him  a 
Wongalong,  Finally,  on  reaching  a  marriageable  age,  he  is 
smeared  with  red  ochre  and  as  a  Wilgieing  may  look  about 
for  a  wife.^  The  Eastern  tribes,  among  whom 

rites  of  the  Bora  type  prevail,  have  no  such  elaborate  system 
of  degrees.  As  we  have  seen,  however,  a  youth  does  not 
attain  the  status  of  a  full  tribesman  until  he  has  attended 
several  Bora  ceremonies.^    Moreover  a  number  of  the  New 


^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  The  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia^  212-213. 
'  Ibid.,  218,  655. 

^  Ibid.y  221,  249,  256,  260,638,657. 


^  Ibid.,  322,  347,  656. 
^  Hardman  in  Proc.  Roy.  Irish 
Acad.,  third  series,  i  (1888),  73-74. 
'  Supra,  71-72. 


86  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


South  Wales  tribes  possess  abbreviated  inauguration  cere- 
monies, modifications  of  the  great  Bora  rites  and  preHminary 
to  them.  The  Kudsha,  or  Narramangy  of  the  Coast  Murring, 
for  instance,  is  an  abridged  form  of  the  Bunan  at  which  the 
assistance  of  outside  tribes  is  not  necessary.  A  novice 
initiated  at  the  Kudsha  must  take  a  higher  degree  when  the 
next  Bunan  is  held.^ 

The  initiation  ceremonies  of  some  of  the  New  Guinea 
tribes  show  a  similar  arrangement  by  progressive  stages. 
Elema  boys  when  they  enter  the  Eravo  are  known  collectively 
as  Malai-asu;  while  among  themselves  they  are  called 
individually,  Heava.  This  seclusion  occurs  when  the  boys 
are  about  ten  years  of  age.^  Following  Heava  comes  the 
Heapu  stage,  marked  by  a  great  feast.  The  boys  now 
terminate  their  period  of  absolute  seclusion  and  may  appear 
in  public  wearing  the  regulation  ornaments  of  the  HeapUy 
which  they  have  made  during  their  seclusion.  Initiation, 
however,  is  not  yet  completed;  there  are  still  certain  ordeals 
which  must  be  successfully  undergone  before  the  youth  is 
acknowledged  as  a  Semese^  or  warrior.  As  a  Semese  he  is 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  bull-roarer,  and  is  then 
allowed  to  marry. ^  In  the  Nanga^  or  initiation 

ceremonies  of  the  western  Fijians,  the  place  and  importance 
of  the  participants  depended  upon  age.  The  elders  (Fere)y 
and  the  very  old  men  (^Vere  matua),  were  members  of  the 
sacred  Nanga  and  the  priests  of  the  order.  Below  them 
were  the  Vuniloloy  the  men  who  had  attended  at  least  two 
initiation  ceremonies.  They  were  the  strong  and  mature 
members  of  the  tribes.  Last  of  all  came  the  young  men 
(Ftlavou)ywho  had  just  been  initiated  and  were  on  probation.^ 

The  African  development  of  the  age  classification  has 


^  Mathews  and  Miss  Everitt  in  Jour, 
and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South 
Wales,  xxxiv  (1900),  276  sq.  Other 
ceremonies  of  the  same  character 
are  the  Nguttan  (Mathews  in  Proc. 
Amer.  Philos.  Soc,  xxxvii,  1898, 
69-73) ;  the  Murwin  of  the  Belhnger 
River  tribes  (Palmer  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.    Inst.,    xiii,    1884,  297); 


and  the  Kadjawalung  of  the  Coast 
Murring  (Howitt,  ibid.,  xiii,  1884, 
432  sq.). 

^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxxii  (1902),  419. 
^  Ibid.,  424-425. 

^  Filson,  ibid.,  xiv  (1884),  15  sq.; 
Joske  in  Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr., 
ii  (1889),  259. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  87 


especial  interest.  Among  the  Masai  tribes  of  German  East 
Africa,  a  boy  at  fourteen  is  admitted  by  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision into  the  ranks  of  the  warriors  and  becomes  El-moran. 
He  now  leaves  the  kraal  of  the  married  people  and  proceeds 
to  a  distant  kraal  where  there  are  only  young  unmarried 
men  and  women.  Here  he  lives  a  military  life  for  many 
years.  Meat  and  milk  form  his  daily  food;  such  luxuries 
as  tobacco,  beer,  and  vegetables  are  rigorously  forbidden. 
As  a  warrior  he  can  hold  no  property;  indeed  his  sole  busi- 
ness as  El-moran  is  to  train  himself  for  proficiency  in  war- 
like enterprises,  to  guard  the  kraals  and  to  take  part  in  raids 
into  neighboring  districts.  During  this  period  marriage 
is  not  allowed,  but  promiscuous  intercourse  naturally  pre- 
vails. The  youth  continues  a  member  of  the  warrior  class 
sometimes  for  twenty  years,  at  least  until  the  death  of  his 
father  gives  him  the  latter's  property  and  permits  his  mar- 
riage. The  strict  rules  of  diet  are  then  abandoned;  the 
companions  in  the  kraal  are  forgotten;  and  the  once  fierce 
and  venturesome  warrior  becomes  a  staid  and  respectable 
member  of  society.^  According  to  a  more  recent  account, 
a  class  of  probationary  warriors  is  also  recognized.  Boys 
on  reaching  puberty  and  entering  this  class  are  called  Selo- 
gunia  (shaved  head)  in  contradistinction  to  the  warriors 
who  have  long  hair.^  The  promiscuous  intercourse  in  the 
kraal  seems  now  to  be  given  up.  In  the  old  days,  however, 
the  ditosy  or  prostitutes,  were  all  immature  girls  whose  career 
in  the  kraal  did  not  seem  to  have  injured  their  marriageable 
prospects.^  If  a  warrior  had  a  child  by  his  dito^  he  married 
her  and  at  once  entered  the  class  of  married  people  called 
El-morno}  The  Wakwafi  system  of  age  classification 

as  outlined  by  Krapf  includes  the  children,  Engera^  who 
remain  with  their  mothers  and  the  old  people,  tending  cattle 
and  doing  household  work ;  the  Leiokj  youths  from  fourteen 
to  twenty  who  devote  themselves  to  national  games  and  to 

^  Thomson,  Through  Masai  Landy         ^  Ibid.,  72-73. 
244-261.  *  Baumann,  Durch  Masailand  zur 

^  S.  L.  Hinde  and  Hildegarde  Nilquelle,  161.    See  also  A.  Le  Roy, 

Hinde,  The  Last  of  the  Masai  (Lon-  Au  Kilima-Ndjaro   (Paris,  1893), 

don,  1901),  56.  422-428. 


88  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


the  chase;  the  El-moran^  or  warriors,  who  after  reaching 
the  age  of  twenty-five  are  designated  as  Kkieko  if  they 
marry;  and  the  aged  men,  Eekiilsharo^  who  remain  at  home 
and   serve   as  tribal  councillors.^  The  Wanika 

have  the  three  orders  of  young  men  {Nyere)^  middle-aged 
men  (Khambi)y  and  old  men  (Mfaya).  ''Each  degree  has 
its  different  initiation  and  ceremonies,  with  an  elaborate 
system  of  social  and  legal  observances,  the  junior  order 
always  buying  promotion  from  the  senior.  Once  about 
every  twenty  years  comes  the  great  festival  'Unyaro,'  at 
which  the  middle-aged  degree  is  conferred."  ^  The  pre- 
liminary seclusion  of  the  candidates  for  two  weeks  in  the 
woods,  the  ritualistic  use  of  white  clay,  and  the  celebration 
of  various  mystic  rites,  show  with  the  utmost  clearness  the 
development  of  the  age-stages  as  existing  in  the  puberty 
institution  into  the  well-defined  degrees  of  the  tribal  society. 
Though  among  the  Wanika  a  definite  chieftainship  has 
been  established,  the  chief  has  little  power  apart  from  the 
Mfaya  and  Khambi,  Every  adult  male  expects  to  join 
the  Khambi  if  he  can  pay  the  fees  required  at  initiation. 
Members  of  this  degree  form  the  real  governing  body  of  the 
nation.  They  busy  themselves,  however,  mostly  with  feast- 
ing. As  all  crimes  are  punished  by  fines  assessed  chiefly 
on  flocks  and  herds,  the  deliberations  of  the  Khambi  do  not 
lack  for  good  cheer.^  Among  the  Zulus  in  the 

Angoni  district  north  of  the  Zambesi  the  age  classification 
has  been  obviously  aff^ected  by  the  influence  of  the  chiefs. 
Here  it  is  almost  purely  a  military  institution.  Circum- 
cision, formerly  in  general  use  as  an  initiatory  rite,  has  now 
been  abandoned.  The  male  population  is  arranged  in 
five  legions  which  are  rigidly  separated  and  which  in  war 
always  go  divided.    The  Mafera  are  the  cadets  who  occupy 


^  Travels,  Researches,  and  Mis- 
sionary Labours,  during  an  Eighteen 
Years^  Residence  in  Eastern  Africa 
(London,  i860),  295.  Other  ac- 
counts varying  in  details  are  given 
by  Burton,  Zanzibar,  ii,  89  sq.; 
Hildebrandt  in  Zeits.  f.  EthnoL,  x 
(1878),  399-400;  and  C.  C.  von  der 


Decken,  Reisen  in  Ost-Afrika  (Leip- 
zig, 1871),  ii,  25. 

^  Burton,  Zanzibar,  ii,  90. 

^  New,  Life,  Wanderings,  and 
Labours  in  Eastern  Africa,  107-114. 
See  also  Hildebrandt  in  Zeits.  f. 
EthnoL,  X  (1878),  400;  and  Von  der 
Decken,  op.  cit.,  i,  217. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  89 


themselves  with  warhke  exercises,  but  who  seldom  partici- 
pate in  actual  fighting;  the  Kabenda  are  young  people 
over  fourteen  years  of  age  who  perform  minor  services  of 
a  military  character;  the  Maora^  Mabema,  and  Madjaha 
include  all  the  fighting  men  from  eighteen  to  thirty  years 
of  age.  A  fourth  class  is  that  styled  Madoda,  made  up  of 
warriors  over  thirty  who  have  the  right  of  attending  the  tribal 
assemblies  and  of  participating  in  the  deliberations.  The 
Madjinga  are  the  old  men  no  longer  warriors  who  pass  their 
time  in  attendance  on  the  chief  and  form  his  council.^ 
The  southern  Gallas  were  divided  into  Toibs  (officers), 
Ghaba  (adults  and  warriors),  and  Ari  (cadets  or  aspir- 
ants).^ Traces  of  the  age  classification  survive  among  the 
Makalakas,  a  Zambesi  tribe.  "The  principal  men,  and  also 
groups  of  old  men,  eat  together;  young  men  just  entered  into 
manhood  do  the  same;  these  will  pass  their  dish  with  the 
leavings  to  younger  brothers,  who  are  also  found  grouped 
together.''  ^  A  boy  of  the  Kikuyu  tribe  of  British 

East  Africa  is  called  Kahe  until  circumcision.  He  then 
assumes  the  title  of  Mwanake  which  he  bears  until  he  is 
recognized  by  the  older  men  as  of  sufficient  age  to  become 
an  elder.  He  is  then  known  as  Mundu  Mzuri}  The 
Mukamba  stages  are  somewhat  more  elaborate.  A  male 
child,  called  Kivitzi  at  birth,  becomes  Muvitziy  or  youth, 
when  he  has  reached  ten  years  of  age.  After  marriage  he 
is  known  as  a  Mwanake.  When  he  finds  himself  in  a  posi- 
tion to  give  a  feast  and  to  present  the  leading  elders  with 
a  goat,  "he  is  received  among  the  elect  and  is  known  as 
a  Mutumia  until  the  day  of  his  death.''  ^  In 
Wadai,  central  Soudan,  five  age-distinctions  are  observed. 
Of  these,  two,  known  as  Sedasi  and  Nurtiy  are  made  up  of 
the  younger  and  older  boys ;  the  Ferafir  includes  the  youths 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  years  of  age;  the  men  from 


^  Wiese  in  Zeits.  f.  EthnoL,  xxxii 
(1900),  195-196. 

^  Burton,  Zanzibar,  ii,  89;  Paul- 
itschke,  Ethnographie  Nordost-Af- 
rikaSf  194  sq. 


^  James  Chapman,  Travels  in 
the  Interior  of  South  Africa  (Lon- 
don, 1868),  ii,  284. 

^  Tate  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.j 
xxxiv  (1904),  133. 

5  Ibid.,  138. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


twenty-five  to  fifty  are  known  as  Sibjan;  those  over  fifty 
as  Dschemma}  In  the  Kru  repubhc  near  Dahomey 

and  Ashanti,  the  "  body  poHtic  is  composed  of  three  classes 
of  persons  which  together  comprise  almost  the  entire  adult 
male  population."  ^  The  Gnekhadi  are  the  elders;  the 
Sediboy  or  soldiery,  are  middle-aged  men  only  admitted  to 
the  ranks  by  payment  of  a  fee;  the  Kedibo^  or  youths,  have 
little  influence  or  power  and  seldom  speak  in  the  deliberative 
assemblies  where  the  three  classes  gather  to  discuss  aff^airs 
of  state.  Matters  both  judicial  and  legislative  are  settled 
in  these  popular  assemblies.  The  government  is  practically 
a  pure  democracy.^ 

Membership  in  the  upper  grades  or  degrees  of  this  classi- 
ficatory  system  carries  with  it,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the 
possession  of  special  privileges.  For  this  reason  it  is  not 
unnatural  to  find  the  initiates  of  the  advanced  degrees 
jealously  restricting  the  number  of  candidates  for  admission. 
This  process  of  limitation,  best  observed  in  Melanesian  and 
African  secret  societies,  may  be  discovered  in  the  more 
primitive  puberty  organization  of  the  Australians.  Among 
the  Dieri  the  leading  members  of  the  tribe  —  the  warriors, 
orators,  and  heads  of  totems  —  form  an  inner  or  privy  council, 
an  organization  distinct  from  the  general  tribal  council  to 
which  every  initiated  man  belongs.  ^^All  the  younger 
men  look  forward  for  years  to  pass  through  the  Mindari 
ceremony  so  that  they  may  have  the  honor  of  appearing  at 
and  eventually  the  right  of  speaking  in  the 'great  council,' 
as  they  call  it."  ^  Other  privileges  such  as  the  right  pf 
sharing  in  the  Piraru  custom  ("group  marriage")  belong 
only  to  men  who  have  passed  through  the  Mindari  rites. 
Kulpiy  or  subincision,  which  constitutes  among  the  Dieri 
the  last  degree,  is  not  open  to  every  tribesman.  At  the 
sessions  of  the  inner  or  privy  council  which  determines  the 
meetings  for  circumcision,  the  headmen  and  heads  of  totems 


^  Nachtigal,  Sahdrd  und  Suddn, 
ill,  245. 

2  J.  L.  Wilson,  Western  Africa 
(New  York,  1856),  129. 


^  Wilson,  op.  cit.j  1 29-131.  Cf. 
also  Burton,  Zanzibar,  ii,  89. 

^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
XX  (1890),  68;  cf.  id.,  Native  Tribes 
of  South-East  Australia,  321. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  91 


fix  upon  certain  youths  who  alone  will  be  permitted  to 
undergo  the  rite.^  All  the  men  who  are  sent  on  special 
missions  to  other  tribes  belong  to  this  degree;  the  Kulpis 
take  precedence  at  the  grand  corroborees  of  the  tribe;  they 
are  the  leading  dancers;  they  hold,  in  fact,  ''the  most  im- 
portant positions,  and  powerfully  influence  the  govern- 
ment of  the  tribe."  ^on-Kulpis  often  express  regret  at 
their  exclusion  from  this  primitive  aristocracy,  and  regard 
the  members  of  the  order  with  considerable  jealousy.^ 
In  the  Engwura  of  the  Arunta,  the  last  and  most 
important  of  the  initiatory  ceremonies  among  this  tribe, 
a  similar  process  of  limitation  is  exhibited.  During  the 
progress  of  the  rites,  ''everything  was  under  the  im- 
mediate control  of  one  special  old  man,  who  was  a  perfect 
repository  of  tribal  lore.  .  .  .  Whilst  the  final  decision 
on  all  points  lay  in  his  hands,  there  was  what  we  used  to 
call  the  'cabinet,'  consisting  of  this  old  man  and  three  of 
the  elders,  who  often  met  together  to  discuss  matters.  Fre- 
quently the  leader  would  get  up  from  the  men  amongst 
whom  he  was  sitting,  and  apparently  without  a  word  being 
spoken  or  any  sign  made,  the  other  three  would  rise  and 
follow  him  one  after  the  other,  walking  away  to  a  secluded 
spot  in  the  bed  of  the  creek.  Here  they  would  gravely 
discuss  matters  concerned  with  the  ceremonies  to  be  per- 
formed, and  then  the  leader  would  give  his  orders  and 
everything  would  work  with  perfect  regularity  and  smooth- 
ness." ^  Among  some  of  the  Queensland  tribes 
where  the  initiatory  rites  have  reached  a  remarkable  degree 
of  elaboration,  the  classes  or  castes  formed  by  members 
of  the  different  degrees  are  exceedingly  well  defined.  Here 
there  are  four  stages  of  social  rank  through  which  each 


^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
XX  (1890),  85.  C/".,  however,  Na- 
tive Tribes  of  South-East  Australia, 
664. 

^  Id.,  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xx 
(1890),  87;  cf.  also  Gason  in  The 
Native  Tribes  of  South  Australia, 
266  sq.;  and  Schiirmann,  ibid.,  226  sq. 
Lartna,  the  Arunta  equivalent  of  the 


Kulpi  rite,  is  so  highly  regarded  that 
the  younger  men  often  voluntarily 
undergo  a  second  or  even  a  third 
operation  (Spencer  and  Gillen,  Na- 
tive Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  257). 
Cf.  also  Northern  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  359-361. 

^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  280. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


individual  may  pass  in  the  course  of  years.  The  third 
and  fourth  degrees  are  naturally  the  most  difficult  to  reach. 
Before  a  man  can  take  an  advanced  degree  he  must  pass 
through  all  the  duties  of  assistance  at  the  initiation  of  others 
into  the  same  rank  as  himself  until,  by  reason  of  his  age, 
he  comes  to  be  the  leader,  chief  director,  or  master  of  the 
ceremonies  appertaining  to  his  own  degree."  ^  No  one 
not  of  the  same  or  of  a  higher  degree  may  be  present  at  an 
initiation.  The  different  degrees  have  no  passwords  or 
signs,  but  the  rank  of  members  is  indicated  by  certain  objects 
of  decoration  and  attire.  Only  the  first  degree  is  com- 
pulsory for  males.  In  the  Boulia  district  circumcision 
takes  place  at  this  stage.  The  blood-father  gives  the 
newly  made  Tuppieri  his  autonym  or  individual  personal 
name,  which  is  to  be  his  through  life.  He  gets  certain 
other  privileges,  and  after  being  subincised  may  marry.^ 
The  second  degree  may  be  taken  only  by  those  of  the  Tup- 
pieri who  have  been  selected  by  the  elders  for  the  honor. 
In  the  Pitta- Pitta  tribe  no  young  man  has  the  remotest 
idea  that  he  may  be  among  the  individuals  secretly  agreed 
upon  for  its  consummation,  and  indeed  may,  through 
absence  from  the  camping  grounds,  etc.,  occasionally  have 
reached  second  and  even  sometimes  higher  grades  in  the 
social  ladder  before  circumstances  arise  and  opportunities 
occur  suitable  for  his  selection."  ^  While  undergoing 
initiation  the  candidates  are  subjected  to  certain  restrictions. 
They  must  not  wear  the  ornaments  which  were  granted 
them  at  their  initiation  into  the  first  degree,  and  they  must 
stay  away  from  the  camp.  Married  men  may  come  to  the 
camp  only  at  night.  The  third  and  fourth  degrees  {Koo- 
koorimaro  and  Murukkundi  among  the  Boulia  tribes)  are  sel- 
dom reached.  Successful  candidates  are  freed  from  all  their 
previous  restrictions  and  are  decorated  with  various  pat- 
terns which  indicate  the  rank  they  have  attained.^  In 
North  Bougainville,  one  of  the  Solomon  Islands,  where 
the  Rukruk  is  the  powerful  secret  organization,  a  lim- 
ited number  of  young  men  are  selected  for  membership 


^  Roth,  Ethnological  Studies,  169. 
2  Ihid.,  171. 


3  Ibid.,  178. 
*  Ihid.^  177. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  93 


by  the  tribal  elders  and  the  chiefs.  It  is  considered  a 
special  honor  to  be  chosen  by  the  chiefs/  An 
example  from  one  of  the  few  tribal  societies  found  in  North 
America  throws  additional  hght  upon  the  operation  of 
this  selective  process.  One  of  the  chief  ceremonies  of  the 
Maidu  of  Northern  California  is  the  initiation  of  young 
men  at  manhood.  The  novices  are  instructed  in  the  myths 
and  lore  of  the  tribe  by  the  tribal  elders,  and  at  the  end  of 
their  period  of  seclusion  a  great  feast  is  held  at  which  they 
perform  the  various  dances  they  have  learned.  But  not 
all  boys  are  initiated.  The  old  men  every  year  fix  upon 
certain  candidates,  who  after  initiation  are  known  as  Teponiy 
and  are  much  looked  up  to.  ''They  formed  a  sort  of 
secret  society,  and  included  all  the  men  of  note  in  the 
tribe."  2 

The  secret  societies  which  thus  arise  by  limiting  the  mem- 
bership of  the  earlier  tribal  organization,  in  many  instances 
retain  something  of  their  former  tribal  character,  in  that 
initiation  into  the  lower  grades,  by  the  payment  of  moderate 
fees,  is  the  usual  thing  for  nearly  every  male  member  of 
the  community.  Initiation  into  the  Dukdukj  for  instance, 
is,  in  practice,  a  matter  of  compulsion.  Parents  would 
naturally  wish  to  present  their  sons  for  entrance,  because 
of  the  prestige  and  privileges  connected  with  membership. 
Moreover,  it  is  usually  made  more  expensive  to  remain 
outside  than  to  join.  A  boy  or  his  parents  "would  cer- 
tainly be  fined  sooner  or  later  for  some  real  or  imaginary 
breach  of  the  Dukduk^s  laws,  and  as  they  would  have  to 
pay  the  fine,  it  was  cheaper  to  pay  the  fees.''  ^  A  lad  at 
puberty  would  be  told  ''that  he  cannot  take  his  rank  as 
a  warrior  and  a  man  of  property,  but  must  always  remain 
a  communal  slave,  unless  he  is  hardy  enough  to  sue  for 
entrance  to  the  light  of  the  great  mystery.  The  distinction 
is  one  that  is  plain  to  him,  and  he  probably  does  not  hesitate 


*  Parkinson  in  Ahh.  u.  Berichte 
d.  Kgl.  Zoolog.  u.  Anthrop.-Ethnogr. 
Museums  zu  Dresden,  vii  (1899),  no. 
6,  p.  II. 

2  Dixon  in  Bull.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat. 


Hist.y  xvii  (1902),  35  sq.;  cf.  Powers 
in  Contributions  to  North  American 
Ethnology y  iii,  305-306. 

^  Brown  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.,  vii  (Sidney,  1898),  780. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


in  making  his  choice,  but  appHes  to  his  chief  to  be  prepared 
for  that  which  is  to  come/'  ^  This  democratic  feature, 
however,  goes  no  further;  the  higher  grades  are  reserved 
for  the  aristocracy  of  the  tribe.  With  the  growing  ex- 
clusiveness  of  the  societies,  entrance  and  passage  through 
the  different  degrees  becomes  constantly  more  difficult 
and  expensive,  and  the  separation  of  the  initiates  from  the 
barbarians  without,  more  pronounced.  Thus  artificial 
social  distinctions  arise  in  a  condition  of  society  as  yet  out- 
wardly democratic.  The  Dukduk  is  controlled  by  an  inner 
circle  composed  of  the  chief  and  a  few  important  members 
of  the  tribe. ^  Entrance  to  the  society  costs  from  fifty  to 
an  hundred  fathoms  of  dewarra  —  about  thirty  dollars.^ 
The  entire  cost  of  passage  through  the  various  grades 
of  Egbof  a  West  African  society,  has  been  estimated  to 
amount  to  over  a  thousand  pounds.^  The  fees  are  divided 
among  those  of  highest  degrees  who  form  the  inner  circle 
of  the  society.^  Admission  to  the  third  degree  of  the  power- 
ful Purrah  society  of  Sierra  Leone,  rests  entirely  with  the 
chiefs  who  control  the  organization.  So  separate  is  the 
kaimahun  from  the  two  lower  degrees  that  the  most  im- 
portant affairs  of  the  tribe  might  be  decided  by  third  degree 
members  without  the  other  Purrah  men  having  the  least 
cognizance  of  the  fact.^ 

When  the  tribal  life  no  longer  centres  in  organizations 
made  up  of  all  the  men  of  the  tribe,  initiation  ceremonies 
as  a  preparation  for  marriage  are  not  required.    The  break- 


^  Churchill   in   Popular  Science 
Monthly,  xxxviii  (1890),  240. 
^  Ibid.,  242. 

^  Graf  V.  Pfeil  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxvii  (1897),  189;  Powell, 
Wanderings  in  a  Wild  Country,  62. 

^  Walker  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
vi  (1876),  121 ;  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels 
in  West  Africa,  532. 

^  Holman  {Travels,  392)  gives  the 
cost  of  initiation  into  each  of  the 
degrees.  Egbo  is  an  interesting 
illustration  of  the  extreme  develop- 
ment of  all  the  tribal  society  char- 


acteristics. Entrance  into  most  of 
the  African  societies  does  not  appear 
unusually  difficult.  Initiation  into 
Nkimba  costs  two  dollars'  worth 
of  cloth  and  two  fowls  (Bentley, 
Pioneering  on  the  Congo,  \,  282). 
A  candidate  for  Ekongolo  must  pre- 
sent the  chief  of  the  society  with  gifts 
to  the  value  of  thirteen  marks  and 
make  donations  of  food  to  the  older 
members  (Buchner,  Kamerun,  26). 

^  Alldridge,  The  Sherhro  and  its 
Hinterland,  127-128. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  95 


down  of  the  old  tribal  rites  is  complete  when  any  one 
may  enter  the  secret  societies  on  payment  of  the  requisite 
fees.  Melanesia,  where  the  secret  societies  are  exceptionally 
well  developed,  affords  many  illustrations.  Boys  may 
enter  the  Dukduk  when  they  are  but  four  and  five  years  old.^ 
They  become  fully  accredited  members  when  fourteen 
years  of  age  —  an  interesting  survival  of  former  puberty 
initiation.^  In  Florida  and  the  New  Hebrides  generally, 
admission  is  granted  to  male  persons  of  all  ages.^ 

In  this  process  of  gradual  development  which  converts 
the  puberty  institution  into  the  tribal  secret  society,  the 
chief  factor,  everywhere  present,  has  been  the  growing 
realization  by  the  directors  of  initiation  ceremonies  of  the 
power  possessed  by  mystery  and  secrecy  over  the  unen- 
lightened. The  members  of  the  inner  circles  —  the  elder 
and  more  influential  men  in  whose  hands  is  the  direction  of 
affairs  —  come  to  realize  what  a  means  for  personal  advance- 
ment is  to  be  found  in  the  manipulation  of  the  tribal  cere- 
monies. The  tendency  will  then  be  constantly  to  widen 
the  gap  between  the  initiated  and  the  uninitiated,  and  to 
surround  the  organization  so  formed  with  every  appliance 
for  working  on  the  fear  and  awe  of  the  outsiders.  In  the 
proceedings  of  the  Melanesian  and  African  secret  societies, 
we  may  see  the  fruition  of  those  characteristics  of  fraud 
and  intimidation  already  referred  to  as  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  puberty  institution  even  in  its  original  and 
pristine  purity. 

In  their  primitive  state,  savage  mysteries  possess  a  sacred 
character  and  enshrine  the  real  religious  beliefs  of  the 
people.  Only  the  initiated  men  share  in  this  secret  wor- 
ship; the  outer  world  of  women  and  children  is  debarred 
from  its  privileges  and  is  ignorant  of  its  rites.  Ordained 
in  the  beginning  of  things  by  the  tribal  gods,  and  under 
their  constant  supervision,  the  ceremonies  of  initiation  con- 
stitute at  once  a  sacred  bond  of  brotherhood  between  those 
who  have  undergone  them  and  a  covenant  with  the  gods 


^  Danks  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.j  ^  Parkinson,  Im  Bismarck  Archi- 

xviii  (1889),  283.  pel^  130. 

^  Codrington,  MelanesianSy  70-71. 


96  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


who  have  instituted  them.  Australia,  again,  furnishes  the 
most  significant  examples. 

According  to  an  early  account  of  the  Australian  natives, 
"^om,  Tippakal^  or  Porrangy  are  their  names,  of  an  imag- 
inary being,  w^ho,  they  say,  always  was  as  he  now  is,  in 
figure  like  a  Black;  and  who,  they  believe,  resides  in  brushes 
and  thick  jungles,  and  appears  occasionally  by  day,  but 
mostly  by  night,  and  generally  before  the  coming  of  the 
Natives  from  distant  parts,  when  they  assemble  to  celebrate 
certain  mystic  rites,  such  as  some  dances,  or  the  knocking 
out  of  a  tooth,  which  is  performed  in  a  mystic  ring.  They 
describe  him  as  being  painted  with  pipe-clay  and  carrying 
a  fire-stick,  but  generally,  as  being  perceived  only  by  the 
doctors,  who  are  a  kind  of  magicians,  to  whom  he  says, 
^Fear  not,  come  and  talk.'  According  to  another  early 
writer  the  natives  referred  their  institution  of  the  Bora  back 
to  Baiamaty  whose  two  children  were  the  progenitors  of 
the  blacks  of  New  South  Wales.  Batamai  initiated  one 
of  his  children  into  the  Bora  mysteries  and  gave  directions 
to  extract  the  front  tooth  and  to  conceal  the  rites  from  women 
and  children.^  Associated  with  Batamai  is  Daramuluriy 
^'a  fabulous  being,  half  man  and  half  spirit,  who  in  olden 
times  took  the  boys  into  the  forest,  apart  from  the  tribe, 
and  put  them  through  all  the  secret  rites  of  initiation."^ 
The  Bora  ground  where  the  Kamilaroi  ceremonies  take 
place,  represents  Baiamai's  first  camp.^  One  of  the 
images  shown  to  the  novices  at  initiation  is  a  repre- 
sentation of  Baiamai,  These  images,  though  rude  affairs 
constructed  for  each  inaugural  meeting,  are  regarded,  espe- 
cially by  the  novices,  with  much  reverence.  If  the  assembly 
is  large,  there  are  several  images,  always  carefully  hidden 
from  the  uninitiated.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  rites  they 
are  destroyed  by  fire.    Thus,  at  a  Burbong  of  the  Western 


^  James  Backhouse,  A  Narrative 
of  a  Visit  to  the  Australian  Colonies 
(London,  1843),  555. 

^  John  Henderson,  Observations 
on  the  Colonies  of  New  South  Wales 
and  Van  Diemen^s  Land  (Calcutta, 
1832),  148. 


^  Mathews  in  Amer.  Antiquarian^ 
xxix  (1907),  149. 

^  Id.,  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxiv 
(1895),  418;  cf.  also  Jour,  and  Proc. 
Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxviii 
(1894),  114. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  97 


Wiradthuri,  there  were  two  images  of  Daramulun,  the  one- 
legged  god/  At  the  Burbong  of  the  Murrumbidgee  tribes, 
besides  a  large  figure  of  Baiamai^  there  was  a  representation 
of  Daramulun  made  of  mud  and  between  four  and  five  feet 
high.^  The   Kurnai  Jeraeil  was   instituted  and 

ordained  by  Daramulun.^  He  it  was  who  made  the  first 
mudjiy  or  bull-roarer/  At  the  present  ceremonies  of  initia- 
tion the  novices  listen  to  a  most  impressive  account  of 
Daramulun,  All  the  tribal  legends  respecting  him  are 
then  repeated  to  them.^  Among  the  Coast  Mur- 

ring,  as  soon  as  the  initiated  men  and  novices  have  left 
camp  and  are  out  of  sight  of  the  women,  it  becomes  lawful 
to  speak  openly  of  things  elsewhere  never  mentioned  except 
in  whispers.  The  name  Daramulun  may  now  be  freely 
uttered;  at  other  times  the  god  is  always  addressed  as  Biam- 
ban  (master)  or  Papang  (father).  The  principle  underlying 
this  usage  is  that  "  all  things  belonging  to  these  ceremonies 
are  so  intimately  connected  with  Daramulun  that  they  may 
not  be  elsewhere  spoken  of  without  risk  of  displeasing  him, 
and  the  words  which  imply  these  ceremonies,  or  anything 
connected  with  them,  are  therefore  forbidden."^  At  the 
Kuringal  of  these  tribes,  the  old  men  made  a  number  of 
passes  over  the  boys  to  insure  the  favor  of  Daramulun  and 
to  fill  them  with  the  influence  of  the  All  Father  "who  insti- 
tuted these  ceremonies,  and  who  is  supposed  to  watch 
them  whenever  performed."  ^  The  teachings  of  the  Boray 
writes  Mr.  Howitt,  "indicate  a  rude  form  of  religion,  which 


*  Mathews  in  Amer.  Anthropolo- 
gist, new  series,  iii  (1901),  340. 

^  Id.,  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  xxxi  (1897),  117. 
For  a  detailed  description  of  the 
images  constructed  at  the  Bunan 
of  the  Coast  Murring,  see  Howitt, 
Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Austra- 
lia^, 523-524. 

^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  442;  cf.  xiii  (1883), 
192. 

^  Ibid.,  xiii  (1884),  446. 

5  Ibid.,    xiv    (1885),    313  sq.; 

H 


Howitt,  Native  Tribes  of  South-East 
Australia,  630. 

^  On  Murray  Island,  one  of  the 
Torres  Straits  Group,  the  culture 
hero  in  the  myth  which  relates  the 
origin  of  the  initiation  ceremonies 
is  Malu,  and  by  this  name  he  is 
known  to  women  and  children. 
But  his  real  name,  revealed  only  to 
the  initiated  and  which  they  may 
never  utter,  is  Bomai  (Haddon, 
Head-Hunters,  46). 

^  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  451. 


98  PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


IS  taught  to  the  youthful  Australian  savage  in  a  manner  and 
under  circumstances  which  leave  an  indelible  impression 
on  his  after-life."  ^ 

From  the  mysteries  as  the  embodiments  of  the  inner 
religious  life  of  the  tribe  to  their  utilization  as  a  means  of 
social  control,  the  transition  has  everywhere  been  easy. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  origin  of  the  numerous  restric- 
tions imposed  upon  the  novices  after  their  formal  initiation, 
at  present  they  are  chiefly  interesting  as  a  simple  but  efFec- 


^  Howitt  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.y  iii  (Sidney,  1891),  349. 

On  the  basis  of  the  new  evidence 
afforded  by  the  Australian  ceremonies, 
Mr.  Andrew  Lang  has  recently  argued 
for  the  existence  at  least,  in  Australia, 
of  native  conceptions  of  ''high  gods" 
unaffected  by  missionary  influences, 
and  indeed  anterior  to  them  (The 
Making  of  Religion,  London,  1898). 
There  is  Kttle  doubt  but  that  a  ''by 
no  means  despicable  ethics"  is  taught 
in  these  Australian  mysteries,  but  it 
is  still  an  open  question  whether,  as 
Mr.  Lang  avers,  among  the  native 
conceptions  that  of  a  superhuman 
and  eternal  creator  exists.  There 
is  much  divergence  among  the  beliefs 
of  the  different  tribes;  the  so-called 
"creator-god"  of  one  tribe  may 
appear  as  a  "bugbear  god"  in  an- 
other. What  evidence  we  have  as 
to  the  Australian  conceptions  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  among  many 
of  the  tribes  degeneration  of  the 
earlier  and  presumably  purer  be- 
liefs has  set  in,  proceeding  pari  passu 
with  the  growing  materialization  of 
the  initiatory  rites  —  a  process  which 
finds  its  completion  in  the  veil  of 
superstitious  mystery  with  which 
the  Melanesian  and  African  secret 
societies  disguise  themselves.  As  to 
the  existence  of  "high  gods"  in 
Australia,  Mr.  Howitt's  statement  is 
emphatic:  "The  AustraHan  aborig- 
ines do  not  recognise  any  divinity, 
good  or  evil,  nor  do  they  offer  any 


kind  of  sacrifice,  as  far  as  my  knowl- 
edge goes"  {Native  Tribes  of  South- 
East  .Australia,  756.  See  also  488- 
508).  On  this  whole  subject  it  is 
now  possible  to  refer  to  the  careful 
discussion  by  Messrs.  Spencer  and 
Gillen.  According  to  these  authors 
^^Twanyirika  of  the  Arunta  and 
Unmatjera,  and  Katajalina  of  the 
Binbinga,  are  merely  bogeys  to 
frighten  the  women  and  children 
and  keep  them  in  a  proper  state  of 
subjection.  ..."  The  natives  have 
"not  the  faintest  conception  of  any 
individual  who  might  in  any  way 
be  described  as  a  'High  God  of  the 
Mysteries.'  ...  So  far  as  anything 
like  moral  precepts  are  concerned  in 
these  tribes  ...  it  appears  to  us  to 
be  most  probable  that  they  have 
originated  in  the  first  instance  in 
association  with  the  purely  selfish 
idea  of  the  older  men  to  keep  all  the 
best  things  for  themselves,  and  in 
no  case  whatever  are  they  supposed 
to  have  the  sanction  of  a  superior 
being"  {Northern  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  502-504).  According  to 
Mr.  R.  H.  Mathews,  a  careful  ob- 
server, worship  is  never  offered  or 
supplication  made  to  Baiamai  and 
Daramulun,  the  Kamilaroi  spirits. 
Both  of  them  are  earthly  divinities 
whose  home  is  in  the  bush.  Neither 
is  to  be  regarded  as  an  "All  Father 
who  had  his  home  in  the  sky" 
{Amer.  Antiquarian,  xxiv  (1907), 
150)- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  99 


tive  means  of  providing  for  the  material  wants  of  the  elder 
men,  the  directors  of  the  ceremonies/  But  this  manipu- 
lation of  the  mysteries  for  private  purposes  does  not  end 
here.  Even  where  the  rites  are  of  the  simplest  char- 
acter it  is  possible  to  find  the  germs  of  that  terrorism  exer- 
cised over  the  women  and  the  uninitiated  men  which  forms 
perhaps  the  most  striking  characteristic  of  the  secret  societies 
in  their  complete  development. 

Among  the  Australians  great  pains  are  taken  to  make  the 
women  and  children  believe  that  the  initiation  of  the  lads 
is  really  the  work  of  the  tribal  gods.  At  the  Burhong  of 
some  of  the  Murrumbidgee  tribes,  just  before  the  novices 
are  taken  into  the  bush,  the  women  who  have  been  spec- 
tators of  the  preliminary  ceremonies  are  led  to  the  encamp- 
ment where  the  boys  are  confined.  Here  they  are  required 
to  lie  down  and  are  carefully  covered  so  that  they  can  see 
nothing  of  the  proceedings.  Bull-roarers  are  then  swung 
and  a  terrific  thumping  sound  is  made  by  the  men  who 
beat  the  ground  with  pieces  of  bark.  The  women  believe 
that  the  noise  is  caused  by  the  trampling  of  an  evil  spirit 
who  has  come  to  remove  the  boys.  The  sound  of  the  bull- 
roarer  is  his  voice.  Amid  all  this  din  the  boys  are  led 
quickly  away.^  Women  of  the  Coast  Murring 

tribe  are  told  that  it  is  Daramulun  who  knocks  out  the  teeth 
of  the  novices;  those  of  the  Murray  River  tribe,  that  the 
novices  meet  Thrumalun  who  kills  them  and  afterwards 
restores  them  to  life.  Among  some  Queensland  tribes  the 
women  believe  that  the  sound  of  the  bull-roarer  is  the  noise 
made  by  the  wizards  in  swallowing  the  boys  and  bringing 
them  up  again  as  young  men.^  Among  the  Arunta, 

Twanyirika  is  a  great  spirit  who  lives  in  wild  and  inacces- 
sible regions  and  only  appears  when  a  youth  is  initiated. 
"  He  enters  the  body  of  the  boy  after  the  operation  [cir- 
cumcision] and  takes  him  away  into  the  bush  until  he  is 
better,  when  the  spirit  goes  away  and  the  boy  returns,  but 

^  Supra  J  65-71.  3  For    these    and  additional  ex- 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  amples,  see  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 

Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxi  (1897),  Inst.^  xvi  (1886),  47  sq.;  Cameron, 

132-133-  i^id.y  xiv  (1884),  358. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


now  as  an  initiated  man.  Both  uninitiated  youths  and 
women  are  taught  to  beHeve  in  the  existence  of  Twan- 
yirika''  ^  Kurnai  boys  who  have  just  passed  through 

their  initiatory  ordeals  are  sometimes  allowed  a  little  relaxa- 
tion by  frightening  the  women  with  the  bull-roarers,  the  noise 
of  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  voice  of  Turndun  himself. 
The  bullawangSy  or  guardians  of  the  boys,  quietly  surround 
the  encampment  of  the  women  at  night,  and  at  a  given 
signal  the  bull-roarers  are  rapidly  swung.  The  novices 
"thoroughly  entered  into  the  fun  of  frightening  the  women; 
and  having  got  over  their  awe  of  the  bull-roarers,  they  made 
an  outrageous  noise  with  them.  The  moment  the  roaring 
and  screeching  sounds  were  heard,  there  was  a  terrible 
clamour  of  cries  and  screams  from  the  women  and  children, 
to  the  delight  of  the  novices,  who  now  in  their  turn  aided 
in  mystifying  the  uninitiated."  ^ 

The  preliminary  ceremonies  preceding  the  seclusion  of 
the  lads  at  Mer  Island  (Torres  Straits)  afford  another 
glimpse  into  that  process  of  development  of  which  the  out- 
come is  the  conversion  of  the  puberty  institution  into  a 
tribal  society  possessing  police  functions  and  ruling  by  the 
terror  it  inspires.  When  it  comes  time  "^to  make  AgudJ 
the  lads,  painted  with  red  earth  and  variously  adorned,  are 
led  to  an  open  space  in  front  of  the  pelaky  or  sacred  house 
of  Agud,  The  ceremony  begins  by  a  number  of  old  men 
coming  out  of  the  pelak;  these  are  the  attendants  upon 
the  three  zogole,  or  sacred  men.  Finally  Agud  himself 
appears.  Agud  is  an  individual  painted  all  over  and  clothed 
with  a  petticoat  of  croton  leaves.  On  his  head  is  a  large 
turtle-shell  mask.  With  measured  steps  and  to  the  monoto- 
nous beating  of  drums,  Agud  and  his  sacred  attendants, 
the  zogohj  approach  the  frightened  novices  who  then  pre- 
sent their  food  offerings.  The  ceremony  is  brought  to  an 
end  by  the  actors  in  the  drama  retiring  with  the  old  men  to 
the  sacred  house,  where  the  food  is  consumed.  Meanwhile 
the  lads  have  listened  to  the  legend  which  recites  the  origin 


^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native  ^  Howitt  in  Jour,  Anthrop.  Inst.j, 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  246  n.        xiv  (1885),  315. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  loi 

of  the  rite,  and  have  heard  for  the  first  time  the  dreadful 
names  of  the  masks  they  have  just  seen.  This  ceremony, 
w^hich  is  strictly  secret,  is  afterwards  followed  by  a  public 
affair  at  which  women  and  children  are  present/  Another 
initiatory  rite  at  Mer  consists  in  thoroughly  frightening 
the  novices  with  the  magur^  or  devils.  These  are  masked 
figures  who  rush  noisily  about  and  beat  the  boys  on  slight 
provocation.  Some  of  the  old  men  have  carried  about  for 
life  the  scars  received  from  these  blows.  The  lads  are  told 
that  should  they  divulge  the  secrets,  Magur  would  kill 
them.  Later  on  the  identity  of  the  masked  figures  is  dis- 
closed to  the  lads,  but  the  women  and  children  believe  them 
to  be  spirits.^  Magur  was  "the  disciplinary  executive  of 
the  Malu  cult.  All  breaches  of  discipline,  acts  of  sacrilege, 
and  the  like  were  punished  by  Magur,  Magur  was  also 
the  means  of  terrorizing  the  women  and  thereby  keeping 
up  the  fear  and  mystery  of  the  Malu  ceremonies.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  this  great  power  was  often  abused  to  pay 
off  personal  grudges  or  for  the  aggrandizement  or  indulgence 
of  the  Malu  officials."^ 

New  Guinea  furnishes  some  interesting  examples.  An 
Elema  lad,  at  ten  years  of  age,  is  secluded  in  the  Eravo^  or 
men's  house.  He  knows  now  that  he  is  soon  to  take  a  very 
important  step  in  his  life's  history;  namely,  his  introduction 
to  the  mountain  god,  Kovave,  Shortly  after  he  begins  his 
course  the  forerunners  of  Kovave^  who  are  young  men  hidden 
by  masks  and  long  draperies  of  grass,  appear  in  the  village. 
Their  arrival  is  followed  by  a  period  of  considerable  anxiety 
for  the  women  and  the  uninitiated  males,  the  latter  being 
mostly  men  or  boys  of  illegitimate  birth,  who  are  not  eligible 
for  initiation.  The  masked  men  are  sacred.  Formerly 
death  was  the  penalty  for  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
uninitiated  to  identify  them.  It  is  even  claimed  that  they 
are  gods  and,  "as  proof  of  their  deity,  the  native  sage  re- 
marks that  they  do  not  need  to  walk  on  the  soles  of  their 
feet  as  mortals  have  to  do,  but  that  they  hop  about  as  is 


^  Haddon  in  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.,  vi  (1893),  140  sq. 


2  Haddon,  Head-Hunters,  50. 

3  Ibid.  J  51. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


characteristic  of  gods/'  For  ten  days  or  more  the  turmoil 
continues;  the  masked  men  prance  about  in  the  streets, 
at  night  the  bull-roarers  are  whirled,  drums  are  beaten  in 
the  Eravoy  and  the  terrified  women  and  children  keep  to 
their  houses.  Vast  quantities  of  food  are  collected  by  the 
women,  and  on  the  announcement  of  the  approach  of  KovavCy 
it  is  carried  away  into  the  bush.  At  nightfall,  the  novices, 
each  accompanied  by  his  father  or  male  guardian,  are  led 
into  the  depths  of  the  forest  and  brought  before  Kovave. 
The  mountain  god  delivers  an  impressive  address  to  the 
terrified  lads,  promises  to  be  their  friend  if  they  obey  the 
elders,  but  threatens  the  most  direful  penalties  in  the  shape 
of  disease  and  death,  should  they  disclose  any  of  the  secrets. 
The  boys  are  then  taken  back  to  the  Eravo^  where  their 
seclusion  continues  many  weeks. ^  The  kaevakuku 

of  the  Toaripi  tribe  of  New  Guinea  are  individuals  con- 
nected with  a  sacred  mystery  bearing  the  same  name.  All 
men  engaged  in  preparation  for  the  Kaevakuku  rites  are 
sacred  for  at  least  three  months  before  the  feast.  During 
this  period  they  avoid  their  homes  and  usual  haunts.  In 
their  public  appearances  they  wear  large  masks.  Entering 
one  of  the  DubuSy  or  men's  houses,  Chalmers  found  eighty 
of  these  masks  ranged  on  the  walls,  forty  to  a  side,  and  by 
each,  a  stick.  A  week  later  he  was  present  at  the  Kaevakuku 
feast  when  the  eighty  men  wearing  the  masks  appeared. 
''A  large  crowd  has  assembled  from  the  villages  round.  .  .  . 
Everywhere  there  is  food,  cooked  and  uncooked,  in  heaps 
and  hanging  on  poles,  chiefly  sago  prepared  in  every  imag- 
inable way.  Betel-nuts  and  pepper  also  abound.  On 
the  platform  of  my  friend  Meka's  Dubu  is  a  large  quantity 
of  cut-up  pork,  and  all  around  the  platform  streamers  are 
flying,  made  from  the  young  sago  frond.  ...  I  have  not 
long  to  wait  until  there  comes  a  man  dressed  in  a  tall  hat, 
or  mask,  resembling  some  strange  animal  with  peculiar 
mouth  and  sharp  teeth;  his  cloak  and  kilt  are  of  yellow 
hibiscus  fibre,  and  a  small  stick  is  in  his  hand.  He  has 
come  from  some  distance  back  in  the  bush,  where,  I  am 


^  Holmes  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii  (1902),  419  sq. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  103 


told,  many  are  assembled,  and  that  all  the  masks  and  dresses 
I  saw  the  other  day  in  the  Dubu  with  their  owners,  are  there. 
He  danced  about  for  a  short  time,  when  an  old  man  came 
before  him  with  a  large  piece  of  pork,  gave  it  to  him,  and 
he  went  away,  followed  by  two  young  men  carrying  a  long 
pole  of  food,  sago,  cocoanuts,  betel-nuts,  and  pepper.  An- 
other kaevakuku  followed  and  did  the  same  as  the  first, 
this  time  in  the  Dubu;  the  conch-shell  is  being  blown  as  for 
a  pig,  and  soon  a  live  one  appears  on  a  pole  between  two 
men.  It  is  placed  on  the  ground,  the  kaevakuku  dancing 
round  and  over  it,  when  a  bow  and  arrow  is  presented 
to  him,  and  he  backs  a  little,  says  something,  lets  fly,  and 
the  pig  soon  breathes  his  last.  The  two  men  pick  the 
pig  up  and  all  leave,  followed  by  two  youths  carrying 
food.  More  kaevakukus  come,  this  time  five;  and  all 
dance  until  they  receive  presentation  of  pig,  when  they 
too  clear  out.  .  .  .  Some  get  dogs,  whereupon  they  catch 
them  by  the  hind  legs  and  strike  the  head  furiously  on 
the  ground.  Not  a  few  are  displeased  with  the  small 
quantity  given,  and  persistently  remain  until  they  get 
more."  ^  The   natives  of  Rook,  a   small  island 

between  New  Guinea  and  New  Pomerania,  employ 
their  Marsaba  mysteries  in  the  same  effective  manner. 
Marsaba  lives  in  a  house  in  the  bush,  secluded  from  the 
women.  On  certain  days  one  or  two  masked  men  set  out 
for  the  village  and  demand  the  uncircumcised  boys  who 
have  not  yet  been  eaten  up  by  Marsaba,  These  are  led 
away  to  the  bush.  In  the  village  it  is  presently  noised  about 
that  Marsaba  has  sv/allowed  the  boys  and  will  not  return 
them  until  the  people  have  made  liberal  contributions  of 
pigs  and  taro.  These  gifts  are  afterwards  consumed  by 
the  initiates  in  the  name  of  Marsaba?  Among 
the  Tamo  of  Bogadjim  in  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land,  the  heaviest 
labor  at  initiation  falls  upon  the  women  who  must  busy 
themselves  for  months  in  the  preparation  of  food  for  the 
great  feasts.    Should  there  be  any  evidence  of  unwilling- 


^  Chalmers,  Pioneering  in  New  ^  Reina  in  Zeits.  f.  Allgemeine 
Guinea^  72  sq.  Erdkunde,   new    series,   iv  (1858), 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


ness  on  their  part,  or  should  their  industry  flag  a  Httle,  ^*so 
wird  sie  durch  den  Asa  an  ihre  Pflicht  erinnert."  Asa 
at  the  head  of  a  numerous  company  visits  the  village  in 
state  and  speedily  brings  the  women  to  a  more  reasonable 
view  of  the  situation.^  Among  the  Sulka,  a  tribe 

of  New  Pomerania,  there  are  many  proceedings  at  which 
masked  men  play  an  important  part.  One  set  of  maskers, 
called  a  katpa^  has  as  its  chief  function  the  terrifying  of  the 
women.  They  drive  the  latter  out  of  the  plantations, 
steal  the  fruit,  and  carry  it  oflT  to  the  secret  resort  in  the 
forest.  The  women  and  children  believe  the  maskers  are  the 
spirits  of  the  dead.  Boys,  however,  are  admitted  very  early 
into  the  secrets  of  the  masks  at  a  festival  which  precedes 
that  of  circumcision.  The  mother  of  all  the  maskers  is 
a  certain  Parol  whose  existence  consists  only  in  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  uninitiated.  Her  failure  ever  to  put  in  an  ap- 
pearance is  explained  by  the  fact  that  she  constantly  suff^ers 
from  wounds,  and  therefore  cannot  leave  her  house  in  the 
bush.  The  men  of  the  village  collect  large  quantities  of 
food  previously  prepared  by  the  women  for  the  Parol  and 
her  children  and  take  it  into  the  bush  where  it  is  consumed 
by  the  maskers.^ 

Originally,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  initiation  ceremonies, 
youths  were  solemnly  inducted  into  the  religious  mysteries 
of  the  tribe;  mysteries,  which  though  not  unattended  by 
many  devices  of  a  fraudulent  nature,  did  nevertheless  main- 
tain themselves  by  a  real  appeal  to  the  religious  aspirations 
of  the  candidates.  But  with  the  advance  to  the  secret 
society  stage,  the  religious  aspects  become  more  and  more 
a  pretence  and  a  delusion,  and  serve  as  a  cloak  to  hide  mere 
material  and  selfish  ends.  The  power  of  the  secret  societies 
in  Melanesia  and  Africa  rests  entirely  upon  the  belief,  as- 
siduously cultivated  among  outsiders,  that  the  initiated 
members  are  in  constant  association  with  the  spirits,  with 
evil  spirits  especially,  and  with  the  ghosts  of  the  dead. 
The  connection  of  the  societies  with  the  worship  of  the  dead 
is  everywhere  manifest.    In  all  the  Melanesian  societies, 

^  Hagen,  Unter  den  Papuans,  237.  ^  Rascher  in  Archiv  f.  Anthrop.y 

xxix  (1904),  227-228. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  105 


the  ghosts  of  the  dead  are  supposed  to  be  present;^  and  the 
same  is  true  in  Africa,  where  the  native  mind  is  thoroughly 
imbued  with  manistic  conceptions.^  The  various  dances, 
the  use  of  masks,  bull-roarers,  and  similar  devices,  serve 
to  facilitate  this  assimilation  of  the  living  and  the  dead 
and  to  endow  the  members  of  the  societies  with  the  various 
powers  attributed  to  departed  spirits.  Such  conceptions  as 
these  existing  in  a  crude  and  undeveloped  form  in  the  most 
primitive  mysteries,  have  expanded  rapidly  in  those  of  the 
Melanesian  and  African  peoples  and  serve  to  explain  many 
of  the  phenomena  connected  with  them.^ 


^  This  fact  leads  Mr.  Codrington 
to  suggest  a  connection  of  the  southern 
Melanesian  societies  with  the  Dukduk 
of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago.  In 
the  Banks  Islands  the  name  of  the 
secret  societies  is  ''The  Ghosts''; 
in  Santa  Cruz  a  ghost  is  duka;  in 
Florida,  one  of  the  New  Hebrides, 
one  method  of  consulting  the  ghosts 
is  paluduka  (Melanesians,  70). 

^  The  chief  masquerader  of  the 
African  societies  is  usually  a  per- 
sonification of  the  spirits  or  manes  of 
the  dead.  UkukUj  the  name  of  a  soci- 
ety in  the  Benito  regions,  signifies  a  de- 
parted spirit  (Miss  Kingsley,  Travels 
in  West  Africa,  540).  Egungun, 
among  the  Yorubas,  is  supposed  to  be 
a  man  risen  from  the  dead.  Every 
June  a  great  feast  is  held  in  his  honor, 
at  which  there  is  a  general  lamentation 
for  all  those  who  have  died  within  the 
year  (Ellis,  The  Yoruba-S  peaking 
Peoples,  107-108).  The  dead  are 
regarded  as  still  being  members  of 
Ekongolo,  a  society  among  the 
QuoUas  (Buchner,  Kamerun,  26). 

^  To  such  beliefs,  for  instance,  is 
probably  due  the  common  custom 
of  the  attendance  at  the  funeral  of  a 
deceased  member  of  the  living  mem- 
bers of  a  secret  society  headed  by  the 
masked  figure  who  personates  the 
presiding  spirit.  Among  the  Tamo 
of  Bogadjim,  Asa  appears  at  a  funeral 
to  visit  and  mourn  over  the  dead. 


When  the  dismal  Asa  music  is  heard 
in  the  distance,  women  flee  in  all 
directions;  and  the  musicians,  ap- 
proaching the  corpse,  paint  it  with 
various  pigments  and  cover  it  with 
flowers.  Then  the  horns  are  sounded 
once  more  and  Asa  departs  (Hagen, 
Unter  den  Papua'' s,  259).  The  great 
Iniat  society  of  New  Pomerania 
assists  at  the  burial  of  its  members 
(Brown  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  viii,  Melbourne,  1901,  p.  312). 
Egungun  and  his  companions  always 
pay  their  respects  to  the  relatives  of  a 
man  recently  deceased  and  receive 
messages  for  him  (Baudin,  Fetichism 
and  Fetich  Worshipers,  61;  Ellis, 
The  Yoruba-S  peaking  Peoples,  108- 
109).  At  the  dances  and  festivals  in 
honor  of  a  dead  man  belonging  to 
the  order  of  Ekongolo,  maskers  of  the 
order  appear  and  dance  about  for 
nine  days.  Then  Ekongolo  returns 
to  his  house  in  the  wood,  but  the 
family  of  the  deceased  must  pay  him 
at  his  departure  (Buchner,  Kamerun, 
26). 

Whether  or  not  the  Melanesian 
societies  conceal  in  their  remoter 
depths  a  real  religious  worship,  is 
a  question  at  present  impossible 
to  answer,  in  view  of  our  great  ig- 
norance of  the  inner  secrets  of  these 
organizations.  All  attempts  to  ar- 
rive at  the  religious  significance  of  the 
mysteries  have  so  far  been  baffled  by 


CHAPTER  VII 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 

The  operation  of  the  various  motives  v^hich  explains  the 
formation  of  tribal  societies  explains  also  the  assumption 
by  them  of  various  functions  of  an  important  nature. 
They  arouse  the  universal  sentiments  of  curiosity,  fear,  and 
awe;  they  surround  themselves  with  that  veil  of  mystery  so 
attractive  to  primitive  minds  the  world  over,  and  they 
appeal  with  ever  growing  power  to  the  social  and  convivial 
aspects  of  human  nature,  to  feelings  of  prestige  and  ex- 
clusiveness,  and  to  the  consciousness  of  the  very  material 
privileges  connected  with  membership.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances it  is  natural  to  find  secret  societies  of  the  tribal 
type  widespread  among  savage  and  barbarous  peoples.  By 
the  side  of  the  family  and  the  tribe  they  provide  another 
organization  which  possesses  still  greater  power  and  cohe- 
sion. In  their  developed  form  they  constitute  the  most  inter- 
esting and  characteristic  of  primitive  social  institutions. 

In  communities  destitute  of  wider  social  connections,  such 
societies  help  to  bring  about  a  certain  consciousness  of  fellow- 
ship and  may  often,  by  their  ramifications  throughout  dif- 
ferent tribes,  become  of  much  political  importance.  African 
societies  supply  pertinent  examples.  Among  the  Korannas 
of  South  Africa,  a  fraternity  exists  whose  initiates  are  marked 


the  impenetrable  reserve  with  which 
the  natives  have  surrounded  them. 
To  Churchill,  an  initiated  member 
of  the  Dukduk,  the  rehgious  teachings 
appeared  to  be  ''merely  a  rational- 
istic rehearsal  of  a  creed  of  unbehef " 
(Popular  Science  Monthly,  xxxviii, 
1890,  242).  Parkinson,  after  years 
of  observation  of  the  society,  could 
find  no  traces  of  a  religious  cult 


(Im  Bismarck-Archipely  129).  As 
for  the  West  African  societies,  one 
writer  has  associated  with  them  "a 
mystic  religion  and  belief  in  one  God, 
a  Creator  from  whom  springs  all  life, 
and  to  whom  death  was  but  in  some 
sort  a  return  ..."  (Marriott  in 
Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix,  1899,  27), 
but  the  evidence  for  this  statement 
is  not  forthcoming. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  107 


by  three  cuts  on  the  chest.  Said  one  of  their  members  to 
an  inquirer:  "'I  can  go  through  all  the  valleys  inhabited 
by  Korannas  and  by  Griquas,  and  wherever  I  go,  when 
I  open  my  coat  and  show  these  three  cuts,  I  am  sure  to  be 
well  received/  ^  After  a  Nkimba  novice  has  acquired  the 
secret  language  and  has  become  a  full  member,  he  is  called 
Mbwamvu  anjata^  and  the  members  in  the  other  districts 
''hail  him  as  a  brother,  help  him  in  his  business,  give  him 
hospitality,  and  converse  freely  with  him  in  the  mystic 
language/^  ^  Those  who  belong  to  the  Idiong  of  Old  Calabar 
are  thereby  enabled  to  travel  through  the  country  without 
danger.^  Representatives  of  the  Ukukuy  a  society  found 
among  the  tribes  in  the  Spanish  territory  north  of  Corisco 
Bay,  sometimes  "meet  together  and  discuss  intertribal 
difficulties,  thereby  avoiding  war/^  ^  Mwetyiy  who  presides 
over  the  secret  society  of  the  Shekani  and  Bakele  of  French 
Congo,  is  always  invoked  as  a  witness  to  covenants  between 
neighboring  tribes.  Such  treaties  are  usually  kept;  other- 
wise Mwetyi  would  visit  the  violators  and  punish  them.^ 
The  Purrah  of  Sierra  Leone  was  formerly  a  most  effective 
instrument  for  preventing  conflicts  between  the  tribes;  its 
deputations  sent  out  to  make  peace  were  always  respected.^ 
The  society  was  organized  with  a  headman  in  every  district 
who  presided  over  the  local  and  subordinate  councils.  A 
grand  council,  managed  by  the  Head  Purrah  man  had 
jurisdiction  over  all  the  branches  of  the  society.^  While 
the  Purrah  law  was  in  force,  no  blood  must  be  shed  by  con- 
tending tribes.    Transgressors  were  punished  by  death. ^ 

In  the  absence  of  the  stronger  political  ties  afforded  by 
the  existence  of  a  definite  chieftainship,  or  where  the  chief 


^  Holub  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
X  (1880),  7.  Members  of  the  Purrah 
association  among  the  Timanees  of 
Sierra  Leone  are  similarly  indicated 
(Laing,  Travels  in  Western  Africa,  97). 

^  Bentley,  Dictionary  and  Gram- 
mar of  the  Kongo  Language,  507. 

^  Marriott  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxix  (1899),  23. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 


Africa,  542;  cf.  Nassau,  Fetichism 
in  West  Africa,  145. 

^  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  392. 

^  Harris  in  Mem.  Anthrop.  Soc,  ii 
(1866),  32. 

^  Winterbottom,  Native  Africans 
in  the  Neighborhood  of  Sierra 
Leone,  \,  135-136. 

^  Matthews,  A  Voyage  to  the 
River  Sierra-Leone,  84-85. 


io8         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


is  as  yet  endowed  with  little  power,  the  secret  societies 
assume  or  reenforce  his  functions  of  social  control.  Where 
the  societies  are  still  essentially  tribal  in  character,  and 
in  their  membership  include  nearly  all  the  men  of  the  tribe, 
such  authority  naturally  centres  itself  in  those  who  hold  the 
higher  degrees.  Probably  the  earliest  ruler  is  often  only  the 
individual  highest  in  the  secret  society;  his  power  derived 
from  his  association  with  it  and  his  orders  executed  by  it. 
Thus  the  control  exercised  by  the  New  Pomerania  chief- 
tains is  immensely  strengthened  by  the  circumstance  that 
such  individuals  are  always  high  in  the  secrets  of  the  Duk- 
duk.  In  some  places  the  society  seems  to  be  largely  under 
the  power  of  the  chiefs.^  The  importance  among  Melane- 
sian  peoples  of  the  Suqe  and  Tamate  of  Banks  Islands  has 
always  obscured  the  appearance  of  such  power  as  the  chiefs 
would  be  expected  to  exercise.  Any  man  who  was  con- 
spicuous in  his  community  would  certainly  be  high  in  the 
degrees  of  these  societies;  and  no  one  who  held  an  insig- 
nificant place  in  them  could  have  much  power  outside.^ 

With  growing  political  centralization,  the  judicial  and 
executive  functions  of  the  secret  society  may  be  retained ; 
and  its  members,  as  the  personal  agents  of  the  ruling  chief, 
may  constitute  the  effective  police  of  the  state.  Africa 
affords  us  instances  of  such  societies  in  affiliation  with  the 
government.  Members  of  the  Sindungo  order  of  Kabinda 
were  originally  secret  agents  of  the  king,  and  as  such  were 
employed  to  gather  information  and  accuse  powerful  masters 
who  were  unjust  to  their  inferiors.^  The  king  of  the  Bashi- 
lange-Baluba  nation  (Congo  Free  State)  is  ex-officio  head  of 
Lubuku}  Belli'paaro  among  the  Quojas  of  Liberia  had  the 
chief  or  king  of  the  tribe  at  its  head.  Members  were  in 
close  affiliation  with  the  government.^  Such  centralization 
of  political  power  is  not  accomplished,  however,  without  a 


^  Powell,  Wanderings  in  a  Wild 
Country,  60;  Weisser  in  Ausland, 
Ivi  (1883),  857-858. 

^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  54. 

^  Philips  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xvii  (1888),  229.  In  Mekono,  the 
Sindungo  were  known  as  the  Em- 


pacasseiros,  or  soldiers  of  the  king 
(Bastian,  Die  Deutsche  Expedition 
an  der  Loango-Kiiste,  i,  223). 

^  Bateman,  The  First  Ascent  oj 
the  K  as  at  J  183. 

^  Allgemeine  Historic  der  Reisen 
(Leipzig,  1749),  iii,  630. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  109 


struggle.  These  societies  often  put  many  restrictions  upon 
the  influence  of  the  chiefs.  Ogbont,  among  the  Egbas  of 
Yoruba,  is  more  powerful  than  the  king.^  The  Nkimba 
fraternity  likewise  once  formed  a  useful  check  to  the  greed 
and  violence  of  the  chiefs.^ 

Where  these  societies  are  powerful  their  members  enjoy 
many  privileges  which  are  not  granted  their  less  fortunate 
tribesmen.  In  the  Dukduk  mysteries  "everything  which  by 
the  uninitiated  is  held  as  of  particular  obligation  is  here 
chanted  as  something  that  the  initiated  must  rigidly  impress 
upon  the  profane,  yet  which  for  themselves  they  may  dis- 
regard. The  tabu  is  to  have  no  force  for  them  except  the 
great  tabu^  with  a  flock  of  hair  on  it,  and  that  they  must  not 
break  through.  All  others  they  may  transgress,  if  only  they 
do  it  slily,  and  so  as  not  to  raise  public  scandal  among  the 
women  and  the  others  who  are  bound  by  its  provisions. 
They  must  teach  the  uninitiated  that  there  are  malign 
spirits  abroad  by  night,  but  they  themselves  need  not  believe 
anything  so  stupid.  .  .  .  One  only  belief  do  they  profess, 
and  that  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  volcano-fires,  and  even  that 
is  discarded  by  the  inner  degree  of  the  Dukduk^  those  half- 
dozen  men  who  sit  within  the  mystic  house  and  dupe  the 
initiates  of  the  minor  degree  as  all  unite  to  trick  those  out- 
side. And  the  reason  is  this:  the  half-dozen  members  of 
the  most  secret  rank  profess  to  one  another  that  no  better 
system  of  governing  a  savage  community  could  be  devised 
than  this  ceremonial  mystery  of  the  Dukduk,^^  ^  All 
the  Tamate  associations  of  the  Banks  Islands  have  as  their 
particular  badge  a  leaf  of  the  croton  or  a  hibiscus  flower. 
To  wear  the  badge  without  being  a  member  of  a  Tamate 
society  would  subject  the  offender  to  a  fine  and  a  beating.^ 
A  member  of  this  society,  by  marking  with  his  badge  the 
fruit  trees  or  garden  which  he  wishes  reserved  for  any  par- 
ticular use,  may  be  sure  that  his  taboo  will  be  respected; 


^  Baudin,  Fetichism  and  Fetich 
Worshipers,  63;  Smith  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix  (1899),  25;  Ellis, 
Yoruba-S peaking  Peoples,  93. 


^  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the 
Congo,  i,  283. 

^  Churchill  in  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  xxxviii  (1890),  242-243. 

^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  75-76. 


no         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

the  great  Tamate  is  behind  him.  Other  prerogatives  of 
the  members  in  Melanesian  societies  include  "the  right 
to  land  in  certain  portions  of  the  beach,  which  the  uniniti- 
ated were  prevented  from  doing  save  by  the  payment  of 
a  fine  —  the  right  of  way  along  certain  parts  —  and,  above 
all,  a  share  in  the  fines  in  food  and  money  from  their  less- 
privileged  fellow-countrymen  or  visitors/'  ^  Pur- 
rah  of  Sierra  Leone  places  its  interdict  "upon  trees,  streams, 
fishing-pots,  fruit  trees,  oil  palms,  bamboo  palms,  growing 
crops,  and  in  fact  upon  all  and  everything  that  is  required 
to  be  reserved  for  any  particular  use/'  ^ 

Privileges  such  as  these  readily  pass  over  into  a  much 
more  extended  system  of  social  control.  Ruling  chiefly 
by  the  mysterious  terror  they  inspire,  and  providing  for 
infractions  of  their  laws  the  penalties  of  death  or  heavy 
fines,  the  tribal  societies  of  Melanesia  and  Africa  represent 
the  most  primitive  efforts  towards  the  establishment  of  law 
and  order.  They  recall  the  Vehmgerichte  which  flourished 
in  Westphalia  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  or 
the  Vigilantes  and  White  Caps  of  a  more  modern  age. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  of  these  organizations  —  the 
Dukduk  of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago  —  exhibits  at  once 
the  good  and  bad  features  of  the  tribal  society.  In  its 
judicial  capacity  it  fully  merits  its  description  as  an  "inter- 
national Rechtsgesellschaft,"  providing  in  the  midst  of 
conditions,  otherwise  anarchical,  some  semblance  of  law  and 
order.  Where  the  Dukduk  prevails,  the  natives  are  afraid 
to  commit  any  serious  felony.  One  observer  describes 
the  Dukduk  as  the  administrator  of  law,  judge,  policeman, 
and  hangman  all  in  one.^  But  the  Dukduk  conception  of 
justice  is  not  modelled  on  Ulpian's  famous  definition,  for 
the  Dukduk  law  bears  down  most  unequally  upon  the 
weaker  members  of  the  community,  upon  those  who  for 
one  reason  or  another  have  been  unable  to  join  the  society 
or  have  incurred  the  enmity  of  its  powerful  associates.  Its 

^  Penny,  Ten  Years  in  Melan-  ^  Powell,  Wanderings  in  a  Wild 
esia,  71.  Country y  62  sq. 

^  Alldridge,  The  Sherbro  and  its 
Hinterland,  133. 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  iii 


forced  contributions  impoverish  those  who  are  already 
poor,  while  those  who  are  rich  enough  to  join  share  in  the 
profits  of  the  mystery.  The  fraternity  exhibits  in  the  clearest 
light  the  culmination  of  that  process  of  fraud  and  intimida- 
tion which,  having  its  roots  in  the  puberty  institution,  be- 
comes more  and  more  prominent  when  the  tribal  society 
stage  is  reached. 

"There  is,''  writes  Mr.  Romilly,  who  witnessed  some 
Dukduk  initiations,  '^a  most  curious  and  interesting  insti- 
tution, by  which  the  old  men  of  the  tribe  band  themselves 
together,  and,  by  working  on  the  superstitions  of  the  rest, 
secure  for  themselves  a  comfortable  old  age  and  unbounded 
influence.  .  .  .  The  Dukduk  is  a  spirit,  which  assumes 
a  visible  and  presumably  tangible  form,  and  makes  its 
appearance  at  certain  fixed  times.  Its  arrival  is  invariably 
fixed  for  the  day  the  new  moon  becomes  visible.  It  is 
announced  a  month  beforehand  by  the  old  men,  and  is 
always  said  to  belong  to  one  of  them.  During  that  month 
great  preparations  of  food  are  made,  and  should  any  young 
man  have  failed  to  provide  an  adequate  supply  on  the 
occasion  of  its  last  appearance,  he  receives  a  pretty  strong 
hint  to  the  effect  that  the  Dukduk  is  displeased  with  him, 
and  there  is  no  fear  of  his  offending  twice.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  the  old  men,  who  alone  have  the  power 
of  summoning  the  Dukduk  from  his  home  at  the  bottom 
of  the  sea,  are  too  weak  to  work,  and  to  provide  themselves 
with  food  or  dewarra  the  reason  for  this  hint  seems  to  me 
pretty  obvious.  The  day  before  the  Dukduk's  expected 
arrival  the  women  usually  disappear,  or  at  all  events  remain 
in  their  houses.  It  is  immediate  death  for  a  woman  to 
look  upon  this  unquiet  spirit.  Before  daybreak  every  one 
is  assembled  on  the  beach,  most  of  the  young  men  looking 
a  good  deal  frightened.  They  have  many  unpleasant 
experiences  to  go  through  during  the  next  fortnight,  and 
the  Dukduk  is  known  to  possess  an  extraordinary  famil- 
iarity with  all  their  shortcomings  of  the  preceding  month. 
At  the  first  streak  of  dawn,  singing  and  drum-beating  is 
heard  out  at  sea,  and,  as  soon  as  there  is  enough  light  to 
see  them,  five  or  six  canoes,  lashed  together  with  a  platform 


112         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

built  over  them,  are  seen  to  be  slowly  advancing  towards 
the  beach/  Two  most  extraordinary  figures  appear  dancing 
on  the  platform,  uttering  shrill  cries,  like  a  small  dog  yelp- 
ing. They  seem  to  be  about  ten  feet  high,  but  so  rapid 
are  their  movements  that  it  is  difficult  to  observe  them 
carefully.  However,  the  outward  and  visible  form  assumed 
by  them  is  intended  to  represent  a  gigantic  cassowary, 
with  the  most  hideous  and  grotesque  of  human  faces.  The 
dress,  which  is  made  of  the  leaves  of  the  draconcena^  cer- 
tainly looks  much  like  the  body  of  this  bird,  but  the  head 
is  like  nothing  but  the  head  of  a  Dukduk,  It  is  a  conical- 
shaped  erection,  about  five  feet  high,  made  of  very  fine 
basket  work,  and  gummed  all  over  to  give  a  surface  on  which 
the  diabolical  countenance  is  depicted.  No  arms  or  hands 
are  visible,  and  the  dress  extends  down  to  the  knees.  The 
old  men,  doubtless,  are  in  the  secret,  but  by  the  alarmed 
look  on  the  faces  of  the  others  it  is  easy  to  see  that  they 
imagine  that  there  is  nothing  human  about  these  alarming 
visitors.  As  soon  as  the  canoes  touch  the  beach,  the  two 
Dukduks  jump  out,  and  at  once  the  natives  fall  back,  so 
as  to  avoid  touching  them.  If  a  Dukduk  is  touched, 
even  by  accident,  he  very  frequently  tomahawks  the  unfor- 
tunate native  on  the  spot.  After  landing,  the  Dukduks 
dance  round  each  other,  imitating  the  ungainly  motion  of 
the  cassowary,  and  uttering  their  shrill  cries.  During  the 
whole  of  their  stay  they  make  no  sound  but  this.  It  would 
never  do  for  them  to  speak,  for  in  that  case  they  might  be 
recognized  by  their  voices.  Nothing  more  is  to  be  done 
now  till  evening,  and  they  occupy  their  time  running  up 
and  down  the  beach,  through  the  village,  and  into  the  bush, 
and  seem  to  be  very  fond  of  turning  up  in  the  most  unex- 
pected manner,  and  frightening  the  natives  half  out  of  their 
wits.  During  the  day  a  little  house  has  been  built  in  the 
bush,  for  the  Dukduks'  benefit.  No  one  but  the  old  men 
knows  exactly  where  this  house  is,  as  it  is  carefully  concealed. 
Here  we  may  suppose  the  restless  spirit  unbends  to  a  certain 


^  The  coming  of  Ikun,  the  spirit 
representative  of  a  Kamerun  society, 
is  also  from  the  sea.    The  heads  of 


the  society  go  out  to  meet  him  in  their 
canoes  (Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in 
West  Africa,  529). 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  113 


extent,  and  has  his  meals.  Certainly  no  one  would  venture 
to  disturb  him.  In  the  evening  a  vast  pile  of  food  is  col- 
lected, and  is  borne  off  by  the  old  men  into  the  bush,  every 
man  making  his  contribution  to  the  meal.  The  Dukdukj 
if  satisfied,  maintains  a  complete  silence;  but  if  he  does 
not  think  the  amount  collected  sufficient,  he  shows  his  dis- 
approbation by  yelping  and  leaping.  When  the  food  has 
been  carried  off,  the  young  men  have  to  go  through  a  very 
unpleasant  ordeal,  which  is  supposed  to  prepare  their  minds 
for  having  the  mysteries  of  the  Dukduk  explained  to  them 
at  some  very  distant  period.  They  stand  in  rows  of  six 
or  seven,  holding  their  arms  high  above  their  heads.  When 
the  Dukduks  appear  from  their  house  in  the  bush,  one  of 
them  has  a  bundle  of  stout  canes,  about  six  feet  long,  and 
the  other  a  big  club.  The  Dukduk  with  the  canes  selects 
one  of  them,  and  dances  up  to  one  of  the  young  men,  and 
deals  him  a  most  tremendous  blow,  which  draws  blood 
all  round  his  body.  There  is,  however,  on  the  young  man's 
part  no  flinching  or  sign  of  pain.  After  the  blow  with  the 
cane  he  has  to  stoop  down,  and  the  other  Dukduk  gives 
him  a  blow  with  the  club,  on  the  ^tail,'  which  must  be  most 
unpleasant.  Each  of  these  young  men  has  to  go  through 
this  performance  some  twenty  times  in  the  course  of  the 
evening,  and  go  limping  home  to  bed.  He  will  nevertheless 
be  ready  to  place  himself  in  the  same  position  every  night 
for  the  next  fortnight.  The  time  of  a  man's  initiation  may 
and  often  does  last  for  about  twenty  years,  and  as  the  Duk- 
duk usually  appears  at  every  town  six  times  in  every  year, 
the  novice  has  to  submit  to  a  considerable  amount  of  flog- 
ging to  purchase  his  freedom  of  the  guild. ^  Though  I  have 
never  witnessed  it,  the  Dukduk  has  the  right,  which  he 
frequently  exercises,  of  killing  any  man  on  the  spot.  He 


^  The  ceremonial,  though  hearty 
beating  sometimes  administered  by 
old  chiefs  at  a  Dukduk  dance  to  as 
many  as  twenty  or  thirty  members 
of  the  society  at  once,  seems  to  be 
an  interesting  survival  of  the  earlier 
ordeals,  and  of  the  simulation  of  the 
death  of  the  novices.    The  native 


explanation  is  that  the  people  thus 
beaten  are  supposed  to  be  killed 
(Brown  in  Jour.  Roy,  Geogr.  Soc, 
xlvii  (1877),  149;  id.,  Proc.  Roy. 
Geogr.  Soc,  new  series,  ix  (1887), 
17;  id.,  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  viii,  Melbourne,  1901,  310). 


I 


114         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

merely  dances  up  to  him,  and  brains  him  with  a  tomahawk 
or  club.  Not  a  man  would  dare  dispute  this  right,  nor 
would  any  one  venture  to  touch  the  body  afterwards.  The 
Dukduks  in  such  a  case  pick  up  the  body,  and  carry  it  into 
the  bush,  where  it  is  disposed  of :  how,  one  can  only  con- 
jecture. Women,  if  caught  suddenly  in  the  bush,  are 
carried  off,  and  never  appear  again,  nor  are  any  inquiries 
made  after  them.  It  is  no  doubt  this  power  the  Dukduks 
possess,  of  killing  either  man  or  woman  with  impunity, 
which  makes  them  so  feared.  It  is,  above  all  things,  neces- 
sary to  preserve  the  mystery,  and  the  way  in  which  this  is 
done  is  very  clever.  The  man  personating  the  Dukduk 
will  retire  to  his  house,  take  off  his  dress,  and  mingle  with 
the  rest  of  his  tribe,  so  as  not  to  be  missed,  and  will  put 
his  share  of  food  into  the  general  contribution,  thus  making 
a  present  to  himself.  The  last  day  on  which  the  moon  is 
visible  the  Dukduks  disappear,  though  no  one  sees  them 
depart;  their  house  in  the  bush  is  burned,  and  the  dresses 
they  have  worn  are  destroyed.  Great  care  is  taken  to  destroy 
everything  they  have  touched,  the  canes  and  clubs  being 
burned  every  day  by  the  old  men.''  ^ 

The  Dukduk  society  also  finds  a  fertile  source  of  revenue 
in  its  exactions  upon  the  women.  In  the  Bismarck  Archi- 
pelago, women  have  the  full  custody  of  their  earnings  and  as 
they  work  harder  than  the  men,  they  soon  acquire  consider- 
able property.  The  Dukduk  '^offers  a  very  good  means  of 
preventing  unfair  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
the  women.''  ^  If  a  woman  sees  the  Dukduk  masks,  she  is 
fined  a  certain  quantity  of  dewarra.  The  Taraiuy  or  lodge, 
is  always  tabooed  to  women,  and  a  fine  of  thirty  to  fifty 
dewarra  is  imposed  upon  the  curious  intruder.^ 


^  Romilly,  The  Western  Pacific 
and  New  Guinea,  27-33. 

^  Graf  V.  Pfeil  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxvii  (1897),  185. 

^  Parkinson,  Im  Bismarck-Archi- 
pel,  131.  At  Buka,  one  of  the  Sol- 
omon Islands,  when  the  women  see 
the  spirit  Kokorra,  they  throw  away 
everything  they  may  be  carrying  and 


rush  for  a  safe  retreat.  Then  the 
men  who  have  been  following  in 
their  wake,  pick  up  the  articles 
and  take  them  to  Talohu,  or  lodge 
(Parkinson  in  Abhandl.  u.  Berichte 
d.  Kgl.  Zoolog.  u.  Anthrop. -Ethnogr, 
Museums  zu  Dresden^  vii,  1899, 
no.  6,  10). 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  115 


Many  of  the  West  African  societies  Miss  Kingsley  de- 
scribes as  admirable  engines  of  government;  "the  machine 
as  a  machine  for  the  people  is  splendid ;  it  can  tackle  a 
tyrannous  chief,  keep  women  in  order,  and  even  regulate 
pigs  and  chickens,  as  nothing  else  has  been  able  to  do  in 
West  Africa."  ^  As  the  African  initiate  passes  from  grade 
to  grade,  the  secrets  of  the  society  are  gradually  revealed 
to  him.  "Each  grade  gives  him  a  certain  function  in  carry- 
ing out  the  law,  and  finally  when  he  has  passed  through  all 
the  grades,  which  few  men  do,  when  he  has  finally  sworn 
the  greatest  oath  of  all,  when  he  knows  all  the  society's 
heart's  secret,  that  secret  is  'I  am  what  I  am' — the  one 
word.  The  teaching  of  that  word  is  law,  order,  justice, 
morality.  Why  the  one  word  teaches  it  the  man  who  has 
reached  the  innermost  heart  of  the  secret  society  does  not 
know,  but  he  knows  two  things — one,  that  there  is  a  law 
god,  and  the  other  that,  so  says  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors, 
his  will  must  be  worked  or  evil  will  come;  so  in  his  genera- 
tion he  works  to  keep  the  young  people  straight  —  to  keep 
the  people  from  over-fishing  the  lagoons,  to  keep  the  people 
from  cutting  palm  nuts,  and  from  digging  yams  at  wrong 
seasons.  He  does  these  things  by  putting  Purrohy  or  Orw, 
or  Egbo  on  them;  Purrohy  OrUy  and  Egbo  and  Idiong  are 
things  the  people  fear."  ^ 

Egbo  of  Old  Calabar,  perhaps  the  best-developed  of 
these  societies,  is  divided  into  numerous  grades.  The 
highest  of  these  grades  is  the  Grand  Egbo,  whose  head  is 
the  king  of  the  country.  Over  the  other  grades  preside 
chiefs  who  are  called  the  kings  of  their  particular  Egbo. 
Each  of  the  different  grades  has  its  Egbo  day  when  the 
Idem,  or  spiritual  representatives  of  Egbo,  are  in  full  control. 
When  the  yellow  flag  floats  from  the  king's  house,  it  is  Brass 
Egbo  day.  Only  those  who  belong  to  the  very  highest 
degrees  may  then  be  seen  in  the  streets.  During  an  Egbo 
visitation  it  would  be  death  for  any  one  not  a  member  of 
the  order  to  venture  forth;  even  members  themselves,  if 
their  grade  is  lower  than  that  which  controls  the  proceedings 


^  West  African  Studies ,  448. 


2  Ihid.^  449-450. 


ii6         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


for  the  day,  would  be  severely  whipped/  When  a  man 
"'meets  the  paraphernalia  of  a  higher  grade  of  Egbo  than 
that  to  which  he  belongs,  he  has  to  act  as  if  he  were  lame, 
and  limp  along  past  it  humbly,  as  if  the  sight  of  it  had 
taken  all  the  strength  out  of  him/^  ^  Though  the  society 
is  in  many  cases  an  agent  of  much  oppression,  it  seemingly 
does  not  lack  its  good  side.  It  has  jurisdiction  over  all 
crimes  except  witchcraft.^  Its  procedure  is  especially 
interesting.  A  person  "with  a  grievance  in  a  district  under 
Egbo  has  only  to  rush  into  the  street,  look  out  for  a  gentle- 
man connected  with  the  Egho  Society,  slap  him  on  the  waist- 
coat place,  and  that  gentleman  has  then  and  there  at  once 
to  drop  any  private  matter  of  his  own  he  may  be  engaged 
in,  call  together  the  Grade  of  Egbo  he  belongs  to  —  there 
are  eleven  grades  of  varying  power  —  and  go  into  the  case. 
Or,  if  an  Egbo  gentleman  is  not  immediately  get-at-able, 
the  complainant  has  only  to  rush  to  the  Egbo  House  —  there 
is  one  in  every  town  —  and  beat  the  Egbo  drum,  and  out 
comes  the  Egbo  Grade,  who  have  charge  for  that  day."  ^ 
The  offender  will  then  be  promptly  punished,  or  the  com- 
plainant himself,  if  the  offence  be  trivial.^  Calabar  people 
who  find  it  necessary  to  be  absent  on  a  journey,  place  their 
property  under  the  protection  of  Egbo  by  fastening  the  badge 
of  the  society  to  their  houses.^  A  trader,  whether  a  Euro- 
pean or  an  influential  Effik,  usually  joins  the  society  and 
endeavors  to  reach  the  higher  degrees.  Lower  grades 
cannot  call  out  Egbo  to  proceed  against  higher  grades; 
debtors  belonging  to  such  classes  "flip  their  fingers  at  lower 
grade  creditors."    But  a  trader  can  call  out  his  own  class 


^  Hutchinson,  Impressions  of 
Western  Africa,  141  sq.;  Bastian, 
Rechtsverhdltnisse,  402  sq. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 
Africa,  533. 

3  Ibid.,  532. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  West  African 
Studies,  384. 

^  Hutchinson,  op.  cit.,  142. 

^  Bastian,  op.  cit.,  404.  The 
Temnes  who  have  the  Purrah  in- 
stitution use  the  same  method  to  give 


notice  of  the  excommunication  of  an 
individual  who  has  fallen  under  the 
displeasure  of  the  society.  A  stick, 
at  the  top  of  which  are  fastened  some 
leaves  of  grass,  placed  in  the  of- 
fender's yard,  is  a  warning  that  he 
is  not  to  leave  his  farm  or  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  his  neighbors  until 
the  ban  is  removed  (C.  F.  Schlenker, 
A  Collection  of  Temne  Traditions, 
Fables,  and  Proverbs  (London,  186 1), 
xiii-xiv). 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  117 


of  Egho  "and  send  it  against  those  of  his  debtors  who  may 
be  of  lower  grades,  and  as  the  Egbo  methods  of  dehvering 
its  orders  to  pay  up  consist  in  placing  Egbo  at  a  man's  door- 
way, and  until  it  removes  itself  from  that  doorway  the  man 
dare  not  venture  outside  his  house,  it  is  most  successful."  ^ 
Other  African  societies  exhibit  functions  similar  to  those 
of  Egbo.  Sindungo  of  the  Loango  tribes  is  employed  for 
debt-collecting  purposes.  Any  man  who  has  a  debt  out- 
standing against  another  may  complain  to  the  head  of  the 
society.  The  masked  Sindungo  2ire  then  sent  out  to  demand 
payment.  Their  simple  procedure  consists  in  wholesale 
robbery  of  the  debtor's  property  if  the'  proper  sums  are  not 
immediately  forthcoming.^  The  Zangbeto  of  Porto 

Novo  constitutes  the  night  police.  The  young  men  of  the 
upper  class  who  compose  the  society  have  the  right  to  arrest 
any  one  in  town  and  out  of  doors  after  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  The  organization  is  a  valuable  safeguard  against 
robberies  and  incendiary  fires. ^  In  Lagos,  crimi- 

nals condemned  to  death  are  given  over  to  Oro,  who  is  said 
to  devour  the  bodies;  their  clothes  are  afterwards  found 
entangled  in  the  branches  of  lofty  trees.  Sometimes  the 
headless  corpse  of  one  of  these  unfortunates  is  left  in  the 
forest  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town;  no  one  would  dare  to 
bury  it.^  Ogboniy  a  powerful  society  in  most  parts 

of  the  Yoruba  country,  in  Ibadan,  is  little  more  than  the 
public  executioner.^  Egungun  and  Belli-paaro  have  similar 
duties.^  Nkimba  members  employ  themselves  in 


^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 
Africa,  532-533. 

^  Bastian,  Die  Deutsche  Expedi- 
tion an  der  Loango -Kiiste,  i,  222-223. 

^  Ellis,  Ewe-Speaking  Peoples, 
178;  Baudin,  Fetichism  and  Fetich 
Worshipers,  62-63.  So  also  the 
Ayaka  society  (Marriott  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix,  1899,  97). 

^  Ellis,  Yoruba-S peaking  Peoples, 
110;  Baudin,  op.  cit.,  62. 

^  Ellis,  Yoruba-S  peaking  Peoples, 

94. 

^  Baudin,  op.  cit.,  61 ;  Dapper, 
Description  de  VAfrique,   269.  In 


New  Mexico,  the  Zuni  fraternity, 
called  the  Priesthood  of  the  Bow, 
exercises  judicial  functions  not  unlike 
those  of  the  African  societies.  All 
persons  charged  with  murder  or 
witchcraft  are  tried  by  this  society. 
The  accused  conducts  his  own  case. 
The  prosecuting  attorney  is  a  member 
of  the  order  appointed  for  this  duty. 
The  decision  is  reached  in  secret 
council.  The  prisoner,  if  found 
guilty,  is  executed  privately  (Gore  in 
Trans.  Anthrop.  Soc.  of  Washington, 
i  (1882),  87;  Mrs.  Stevenson  in 
Memoirs  of  the  International  Con- 


ii8         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


catching  witches.  At  night  they  fill  the  village  with  their 
cries  as  they  run  through  the  deserted  streets.  Common 
natives  must  not  be  caught  outside  the  house,  but  despite 
this  regulation,  the  simple  folk  ''rejoice  that  there  is  such  an 
active  police  against  witches,  maladies,  and  all  misfortunes."  ^ 

The  problem  of  maintaining  masculine  authority  over  the 
women  is  readily  solved  in  Africa,  where  the  secret  societies 
are  powerful.  An  account,  by  an  old  writer,  of  the  famous 
Mumbo  Jumbo  order  found  among  the  Mandingoes  of  the 
Soudan,  furnishes  a  good  description  of  the  procedure 
followed  by  numerous  other  societies :  — 

"On  the  6th  of  May,  at  Night,  I  was  visited  by  a  Mumbo 
Jumboy  an  Idol,  which  is  among  the  Mundingoes  a  kind  of 
cunning  Mystery.  It  is  dressed  in  a  long  Coat  made  of  the 
Bark  of  Trees,  with  a  Tuft  of  fine  Straw  on  the  Top  of  it, 
and  when  the  Person  wears  it,  it  is  about  eight  or  nine  Foot 
high.  This  is  a  Thing  invented  by  the  Men  to  keep  their 
Wives  in  awe,  who  are  so  ignorant  (or  at  least  are  obliged 
to  pretend  to  be  so)  as  to  take  it  for  a  Wild  Man;  and  indeed 
no  one  but  what  knows  it,  would  take  it  to  be  a  Man,  by 
reason  of  the  dismal  Noise  it  makes,  and  which  but  few  of 
the  Natives  can  manage.  It  never  comes  abroad  but  in 
the  Night-time,  which  makes  it  have  the  better  EflFect. 
Whenever  the  Men  have  any  Dispute  with  the  Women, 
this  Mumbo  Jumbo  is  sent  for  to  determine  it;  which  is, 
I  may  say,  always  in  Favour  of  the  Men.    Whoever  is  in 


gress  of  Anthropology  (Chicago,  1894), 
314). 

^  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the  Congo  ^ 
i,  283. 

The  most  powerful  of  the  West 
African  societies  are  Purrah  of 
Sierra  Leone,  Oru  or  Oro  of  Lagos, 
Yasi  of  the  Igalwa  of  Southern 
Nigeria,  Egho  of  Old  Calabar, 
Ukuku  of  the  Mpongwe,  Ikun  of 
the  Bakele,  and  Lubuku  of  the 
Bachilangi  (Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in 
West  Africa y  526).  The  territory 
between  Cape  Blanco  and  Kam- 
erun  includes  the  most  important 
of  these   law-god  societies;  south 


of  Kamerun  there  is  no  such  domi- 
nant authority  as  Egbo  of  Calabar. 
In  the  Congo  region  the  individual 
priests  or  Nganga  Nkissi  possess 
the  judicial  duties  elsewhere  assumed 
by  the  societies  (Id.,  "African 
Rehgion  and  Law,"  National  Re- 
view, XXX,  1897,  137).  Miss  Kings- 
ley  notes  that  scattered  over  all  the 
districts  in  which  the  law-god  so- 
cieties are  influential  are  sanctuaries 
which  Hmit  their  power  and  provide 
veritable  cities  of  refuge  for  a  much- 
enduring  people  (West  African 
Studies,  412). 


FUNCTIONS  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  119 


the  Coat,  can  order  the  others  to  do  what  he  pleases,  either 
fight,  kill,  or  make  Prisoner;  but  it  must  be  observed,  that 
no  one  is  allowed  to  come  armed  into  its  Presence.  When 
the  women  hear  it  coming,  they  run  away  and  hide  them- 
selves; but  if  you  are  acquainted  with  the  Person  that  has 
the  Coat  on,  he  will  send  for  them  all  to  come  and  sit  down, 
and  sing  or  dance,  as  he  pleases  to  order  them;  and  if  any 
refuse  to  come,  he  will  send  the  People  for  them,  and  then 
whip  them.  Whenever  any  one  enters  into  this  Society, 
they  swear  in  the  most  solemn  manner  never  to  divulge  it 
to  any  Woman,  or  any  Person  that  is  not  enter'd  into  it, 
which  they  never  allow  to  Boys  under  sixteen  Years  of  Age. 
This  thing  the  People  swear  by,  and  the  Oath  is  so  much 
observed  by  them,  that  they  reckon  as  irrevocable,  as  the 
Grecians  thought  Jove  did  of  old,  when  he  swore  by  the 
River  Styx.  .  .  .  There  are  very  few  Towns  of  any  Note 
but  what  have  got  one  of  these  Coats,  which  in  the  Day- 
time is  fixt  upon  a  large  Stick  near  the  Town,  where  it 
continues  till  Night,  the  proper  Time  of  using  it.''  ^  Mungo 
Park,  who  witnessed  the  procedure  of  the  society,  adds 
that  when  a  woman  is  to  be  punished  for  a  real  or  suspected 
departure  from  the  path  of  virtue,  she  "is  stripped  naked, 
tied  to  a  post,  and  severely  scourged  with  Mumbo's  rod, 
amidst  the  shouts  and  derision  of  the  whole  assembly; 
and  it  is  remarkable,  that  the  rest  of  the  women  are  the 
loudest  in  their  exclamations  on  this  occasion  against  their 
unhappy  sister.''  ^ 

In  the  Yoruba  villages  Oro  is  the  great  bugbear  god. 
The  Ogboni  society,  whose  members  are  the  personal  repre- 
sentatives of  the  god,  use  the  bull-roarer,  the  voice  of  Oro, 
to  keep  the  women  in  subjection.  No  woman  may  see  the 
bull-roarer  and  live.  Governor  Moloney  says,  ^^I  have 
seen  even  persons  professing  to  be  Christians  awe-struck 
in  its  presence."  ^  The  presence  of  Oro  in  Yoruba  towns 
brings  about  an  enforced  seclusion  of  women  from  seven 

^  Moore,  Travels  into  the  Inland  ^  Jour.  Manchester  Geogr.  Soc.y  v 
Parts  of  Africa,  116-118.  (1889),  293. 

^  Travels  in  the  Interior  Districts 
of  Africa,  i,  59. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


o'clock  in  the  evening  until  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.^ 
On  the  great  Oro  days  w^omen  must  remain  indoors  from 
daybreak  till  noon.^  Egungun  (literally  Bones"),  another 
Yoruba  bugbear,  is  supposed  to  be  a  dead  man  risen  from 
the  grave.  He  is  '^the  w^hip  and  the  cucking-stool  apotheo- 
sized." Adult  males  know^  th3.t  Egungun  is  a  mortal,  "but 
if  a  v^oman  swears  falsely  by  him,  or  even  says  that  he  is 
not  a  tenant  of  the  grave,  she  v^ould  lose  her  life."  ^  Mwetyi 
and  Nda  of  Southern  Guinea  tribes  are  similar  creations 
of  the  secret  societies  to  keep  the  women  in  subjection.^ 


^  Mrs.  Batty  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xix  (1889),  160. 

^  Ellis,  Yoruba-S peaking  Peoples, 
iii;  cf.  also  Burton,  Abeokuta  and  the 
Camaroons  Mountains,  i,  198. 

^  Burton,  op.  cit.,  196. 

^  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  391-392. 
Some  of  the  California  Indians 
resort  to  the  same  devices  and  with 
most  efjficacious  results.  Among  the 
Pomo  of  Northern  California,  *^it 
seems  to  be  almost  the  sole  object 
of  government  to  preserve  them 
[the  women]  in  proper  subjection 
and  obedience."  By  means  of  a 
great  secret  society  with  branch 
chapters  in  every  part  of  the  tribe, 
the  dreadful  Yukukula,  or  masked 
devil,  who  presides  over  its  dehbera- 
tions,  is  enabled  to  impose  the  req- 
uisite scourgings  and  warnings  upon 
the  terrified  women.  The  procedure 
is  a  faithful  parallel  of  the  more 
familiar  African  customs  (Powers  in 
Contributions  to  North  American 
Ethnology,  iii,  157  sq.).  Similar 
societies  are  found  among  the  Tatu, 
Gualala,  and  Patwin,  other  Northern 
CaHfornia  tribes  {ibid.,  141,  193  sq., 
225). 

In  some  instances  the  African 
women  are  powerful  enough  to  form 


secret  societies  of  their  own,  ob- 
viously modelled  on  those  of  the  men. 
Njembe  of  the  Mpongwe  women  of 
Southern  Guinea  counterparts  the 
Nda  of  the  men,  and  really  succeeds 
in  making  itself  feared  by  them 
(Wilson,  op.  cit.,  396-397;  Burton, 
Two  Trips  to  Gorilla  Land,  i,  81-82; 
Nassau,  Fetichism  in  West  Africa, 
250-263).  The  associated  women 
who  constitute  the  Devil  Bush'' 
of  the  Vey  people  of  Liberia  are  also 
able  to  prevent  undue  tyranny  on 
the  part  of  their  husbands.  If  a  man 
were  unusually  cruel  to  his  wives,  the 
matter  would  be  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  Devil  Bush''  and  the 
offender,  if  adjudged  guilty,  would  be 
poisoned.  If  the  tribe  decides  to  go 
to  war,  the  declaration  is  first  referred 
to  the  women  (Penick,  quoted  in 
Jour.  Amer.  Folk -Lore,  ix  (1896), 
221).  The  Bundu  of  the  Sherbro 
Hinterland  is  an  important  organ- 
ization. It  corresponds  to  the  Pur- 
rah  society,  which  belongs  to  the  men. 
Yassi  is  another  society  of  the  women 
among  both  the  Sherbro  and  Wendi 
tribes  (for  full  descriptions,  see 
Alldridge,  The  Sherbro  and  its  Hinter- 
land, 136-152;  Biittikofer,  Reise- 
bilder  aus  Ltberia^  ii,  308-312). 


CHAPTER  VIII 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 

The  development  of  social  life  is  necessarily  associated 
with  the  decline  of  secret  organizations  of  the  type  that  has 
been  described.  With  the  growth  of  population,  the  rise 
of  large  communities,  and  the  extension  of  social  inter- 
course, there  must  come  an  increasing  difficulty  in  keeping 
up  the  mystery  on  which  depends  the  very  life  of  such 
organizations.  In  place  of  such  rude  methods  of  social 
control  as  Dukduk  or  Egbo  employs,  other  methods, 
adapted  to  wider  ends,  must  come  into  existence.  The 
establishment  of  the  power  of  chiefs  on  a  permanent  and 
hereditary  basis,  the  organization  of  existence  on  an  agri- 
cultural foundation,  making  more  numerous  the  necessaries 
of  Hfe  and  reducing  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
membership  in  the  societies,  are  factors  which  in  their 
different  ways  contribute  to  the  undermining  of  such  crude 
institutions.  The  process  of  decline  does  not,  however, 
follow  everywhere  along  identical  lines.  When  once  the 
secrecy  is  dissipated,  a  simple  collapse  of  the  organizations 
may  occur.  In  many  cases  the  societies  become  merely 
social  clubs,  sometimes  preserving  a  thin  veil  of  secrecy 
over  their  proceedings  as  an  additional  attraction.  Most 
frequently,  however,  a  development  has  taken  place,  into 
what  may  be  called  for  convenience  of  distinction,  magical 
fraternities.  The  rise  of  such  organizations  will  later  be 
discussed  in  detail.^ 

The  admission  of  women  is  characteristic  of  the  disin- 
tegration of  the  secret  societies  and  of  their  conversion  into 
purely  social  clubs  or  magical  fraternities.    So  far  as  known, 

*  Infra,  chap.  ix. 

121 


122         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

the  women  are  still  rigorously  excluded  from  the  Melanesian 
associations,  but  in  Africa,  Polynesia,  and  North  America 
we  find  some  examples  either  of  their  partial  or  complete 
admission.  In  the  Elung,  a  secret  society  of  Kamerun, 
the  wife  of  the  head  of  the  society  is  a  member.^  In  con- 
nection with  Egbo  there  is  an  affiliated  society  of  free  women 
and  a  slave  society,  both  being  in  distinct  subordination.^ 
Women,  though  not  allowed  to  attend  Egbo  meetings,  are 
now  permitted  to  buy  the  Egbo  privileges.^  Idiong  or 
Idion^  an  Old  Calabar  society,  is  open  only  to  Egbo  members 
and  to  women. ^  The  head  of  the  woman's  secret  society 
is  present  at  the  meetings  of  the  Purrah  of  Sierra  Leone. 
She  may  not  speak  and  is  supposed  to  be  invisible  to  all 
but  the  chief  of  the  Purrah,  When  she  dies,  he  buries  her.^ 
In  some  cases,  a  woman  may  be  made  a  member  of  the 
order;  she  is  then  allowed  certain  broad  privileges,  and  is 
not  regarded  henceforth,  as  of  the  female  sex.^ 

From  this  partial  and  restricted  admission  of  women  it 
is  only  an  additional  step  to  their  general  admission  under 
the  same  conditions  as  those  required  of  the  men.  The 
result  is  such  a  society  as  the  Lubuku  of  certain  African 
tribes  on  the  Lulua  river,  now  primarily  a  social  organiza- 
tion and  only  indirectly  of  political  importance.  Women 
are  admitted  as  freely  as  men.  The  initiatory  rites,  it  is 
said,  violate  all  decency."^  Ndembo  of  the  upper  Congo 
tribes  closely  resembles  Lubuku,  Not  only  both  sexes,  but 
candidates  of  all  ages,  are  admitted.^  The  great 

Areoi  society,  in  its  ramifications  widespread  throughout 
Polynesia,  admitted  women,  but  their  numbers  were  much 
less  than  those  of  the  male  initiates.^  In  the 

American  fraternities  women  are  frequently  members. 
Sometimes  they  imitate  the  men  and  have  secret  organiza- 


^  Buchner,  Kamerun,  26. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  West  African 
Studies  J  384. 

^  Hutchinson,  Impressions  of  West- 
ern Africa,  143. 

^  Marriott  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxix  (1899),  23. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  West  African 
Studies,  452. 


^  Alldridge,  The  Sherbro  and  its 
Hinterland,  132-133. 

'  Bateman,  The  First  Ascent  of 
the  Kasat,  183-184. 

^  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the 
Congo,  \,  284. 

^  Infra,  p.  164. 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 


tions  of  their  own.  The  admission  of  women  is  here  also 
doubtless  a  late  development.  In  the  Omaha  fraternities 
they  are  admitted  only  through  the  vision  of  their  male 
relatives.  Women  may  pass  through  the  various  degrees 
of  the  Midewiwin  of  the  Ojibwa  and  the  Mitawit  of  the 
Menomini,  but  their  duties  in  the  ceremonials  are  strictly 
subordinate.^  The  Wacicka  fraternity,  the  principal  or- 
ganization among  the  Omahas,  Winnebagos,  and  Dakotas, 
closely  resembles  the  Midewiwin,  Only  chiefs  and  their 
immediate  relatives  of  both  sexes  could  be  members.  Ac- 
cording to  one  account,  the  society  "tended  to  concupis- 
cence." ^  The  female  members  of  the  Hopi 
Snake  fraternity  do  not  take  part  in  the  public  Snake 
Dance,  "but  join  the  society  and  offer  their  children  for 
initiation  as  a  protection  against  rattle-snake  bites  and  for 
the  additional  benefit  of  the  invocations  in  the  Kiva  per- 
formances." ^  Among  the  Sia  Indians,  women  are  admitted 
to  all  the  fraternities  except  the  organizations  called  Snake 
and  Cougar,  or  Hunters  and  Warriors.^  All  Zuni  boys 
must  be  initiated  into  the  Kokko ;  but  entrance  is  optional 
for  girls.  A  girl  "must  never  marry  if  she  joins  the  Kokko^ 
and  she  is  not  requested  to  enter  this  order  until  she  has 
arrived  at  such  age  as  to  fully  understand  its  grave  respon- 
sibilities and  requirements."  ^ 

At  the  present  time  the  most  effective  cause  of  the  decline 
of  the  secret  societies  is  the  steady  encroachment  of  the 
civilizing  agencies  introduced  by  traders  and  missionaries. 
In  the  islands  of  Torres  Straits  and  of  Melanesia,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  missionaries  is  always  aimed  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  ceremonies  which  constitute  the  heart  of  the  native 
beliefs.  As  the  German  traders  in  the  Bismarck  Archi- 
pelago press  inland,  and  the  dark  places  of  the  islands  are 
opened  up  to  commerce  and  civilization,  the  great  Dukduk 


^  Hoffman  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  223;  id.,  Fourteenth 
Ann.  Rep.,  102-103. 

^  Dorsey  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.y  343. 


^  Fewkes  in  Nineteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Amer.  EthnoL,  979. 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Eleventh  Ann, 
Rep.  Bur.  EthnoL,  75. 

^  Id.,  Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.,  540. 


124         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

society  retires  steadily  before  them,  and  its  ceremonies 
and  privileges  are  sold  by  the  chiefs  to  the  tribes  of  the 
interior/  Similarly  the  bitterest  opponents  of  missionary 
enterprise  in  Africa  are  the  secret  societies,  where  these  are 
powerful.  The  famous  Areoi  society  of  Tahiti  and  other 
Polynesian  islands  long  waged  a  severe,  but  in  the  end, 
ineffectual  struggle  against  the  missionaries  who  arrived  in 
the  islands  near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
North  America  the  decline  of  the  magical  fraternities  is 
everywhere  associated  with  the  advent  of  the  whites.  De- 
generation seems  to  be  complete,  when,  for  instance,  propo- 
sitions are  entertained  for  the  production  as  a  spectacular 
show  of  the  Snake  Dance  of  the  Hopi  Indians.^ 

Where  the  tribal  societies  succeed  in  surviving  any  very 
decided  advance  in  the  general  civilization  of  the  com- 
munity, their  tendency  is  to  become  the  strongholds  of  con- 
servatism and  resistance  to  outward  change.  As  such  they 
often  develop  into  powerful  organizations  and  assume  im- 
portant political  functions.  The  Kakian  association  among 
the  Melanesian  aborigines  of  Western  Ceram  is  an  illustra- 
tion. The  Kakiauy  once  a  tribal  society  of  the  familiar 
type,  now  stands  for  the  old  customs  of  the  people  and  for 
opposition  to  all  foreign  influences.  By  the  freemasonry 
existing  between  the  numerous  and  widely  scattered  lodges, 
it  long  remained  an  important  obstacle  to  the  progress  of 
the  Dutch  in  Ceram. ^  In  his  study  of  Nagua- 

Itsruy  Dr.  Brinton  has  laid  bare  the  existence  of  a  secret 
association,  extending  over  the  greater  part  of  Southern 
Mexico  and  Guatemala.  At  the  opening  of  the  eighteenth 
century  it  was  a  most  potent  force  in  resisting  the  Spanish 
advance.  The  society  was  of  an  ancient  character,  dating, 
indeed,  back  to  the  period  of  barbarism;  but  after  the 
Spanish  conquest  of  Mexico  it  became  political  in  its  aims, 
and  its  members  were  inspired  by  two  ruling  sentiments  — 


^  Graf  V.  Pfeil  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxvii  (1897),  190-191. 

^  Fewkes  in  Nineteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Amer,  Ethnol.,  978. 


^  Bastian,  Idonesien,  part  i,  145- 
147;  Joest  in  Verhandl.  Berlin. 
Gesells.  f.  Anthrop.  Ethnol.  u.  Urge- 
schichte  (1882),  64-65;  Schulze,  ibid. 
(1877),  117. 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  125 

detestation  of  the  Spaniards  and  hatred  of  the  Christian 
rehgion.  This  '^Eleusinian  mystery  of  America"  was 
organized  in  a  number  of  degrees,  through  which  candi- 
dates rose  by  solemn  and  often  painful  ceremonies.  One 
of  the  practices  consisted  in  the  use  of  a  sacred  intoxicant, 
peyotl^  prized  as  casting  the  soul  into  the  condition  of  hypo- 
static union  with  divinity.  A  fundamental  doctrine  was 
the  belief  in  a  personal  guardian  spirit  (nagual)  into  which 
by  various  rites  of  a  phallic  character  the  members  of  the 
society  were  supposed  to  be  metamorphosed/  Like  the 
Kakian,  the  society  was  very  probably  an  outgrowth  of 
earlier  puberty  institutions.^ 

The  decline  of  the  old  tribal  societies  is  associated  both 
in  Melanesia  and  Africa,  with  the  rise  of  numerous  local  and 


^  D.  G.  Brinton,  *'Nagualism. 
A  Study  in  Native  American  Folk- 
lore and  History,''  Proc.  Amer, 
Philos.  Soc,  xxxiii  (1894),  11-69. 

2  Were  we  in  possession  of  suffi- 
cient information,  it  might  be  possible 
to  substantiate  the  hypothesis  that 
many  of  the  Chinese  secret  societies 
exhibit  the  same  origin  and  course  of 
development  as  those  of  more  primi- 
tive peoples.  We  know  that  as  secret 
societies  they  may  be  referred  to  a 
period  long  prior  to  the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  country  under  a  single 
crown.  Beginning  in  the  old  tribal 
organization,  and  possessing  civil 
functions  of  various  sorts,  they  have 
long  proved  a  serious  barrier  to  the 
constant  encroachments  of  the  central 
government,  and  to  the  introduction 
of  all  foreign  customs.  The  recent 
uprising  in  China,  fomented  by  the 
so-called  ^'Boxers,"  has  directed 
attention  to  this  particular  society 
with  the  result  of  some  increase  in 
our  knowledge  concerning  it.  Though 
there  is  much  in  the  rites  that  requires 
clarification,  it  appears  that  the  in- 
itiates are  children  of  twelve  to 
fifteen  years  of  age,  who  by  the 
Chinese  custom  are  sufficiently  old 
to   marry.      Moreover,   the  cere- 


monies attending  entrance  are  de- 
signed to  bring  about  those  condi- 
tions of  hysteria  and  hyperaesthesia 
met  with  so  frequently  in  puberty 
rites.  By  the  repetition  of  words 
supposed  to  act  as  charms  and  by 
violent  contortions  of  the  body  the 
candidates  are  thrown  into  a  trance 
state,  during  which  they  deliver  to  the 
bystanders  occult  messages.  ^'It  is 
certain  that  in  addition  to  much 
other  mythology  the  movement  in- 
volves the  idea  of  a  revelation,  and 
there  is  ground  for  supposing  that  the 
revelation  is  somehow  or  other  con- 
nected with  the  institution  of  mar- 
riage. ..."  (Candlin,  ^'The  As- 
sociated Fists,"  Open  Courts  xiv, 
1900,  551-561.)  For  further  data 
which  tend  to  confirm  the  theory 
here  advanced,  see  Matignon,  ^'Hys- 
teric et  Boxeurs  en  Chine,"  Revue 
Scientifique,  fourth  series,  xv  (1901), 
302-304.  On  the  political  powers 
exercised  by  the  Chinese  societies,  see 
Courant,  '^Les  Associations  en 
Chine,"  Annates  des  Sciences  Poli- 
tiqueSj  xiv  (1899),  68-94;  Saturday 
Review,  Ixxii  (1891),  331  sq.;  Cordier, 
^'Les  Societes  Secretes  Chinoises," 
Rev.  d^Ethnographie,  vii  (1888),  52- 
72,  with  a  bibliographical  note. 


126         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


temporary  societies,  generally  secret,  but  specialized,  so  to 
speak,  for  the  performance  of  various  functions.  Some- 
thing like  a  division  of  labor  then  takes  place.  Of  the 
societies  in  the  New  Britain  group  (Bismarck  Archipelago), 
Mr.  Brown  writes  that  in  one  a  candidate  '^was  taught  how 
to  curse  his  enemies  in  the  most  telling  manner ;  in  another, 
how  to  prepare  love  philters  for  his  own  use,  or  for  the  use 
of  those  who  paid  him  for  them ;  in  another,  he  was  shown 
the  secrets  of  Agagara^  or  witchcraft,  and  taught  how  easy 
it  was  to  make  a  man  sicken  and  die  just  as  he  pleased. 
He  was  taught  how  to  make  new  dances  and  how  profitably 
he  could  sell  them  to  other  towns."  ^  In  Melanesia,  these 
societies  are  now  very  easily  formed;  in  the  Banks  and 
Torres  Islands,  for  example,  besides  the  three  or  four  im- 
portant societies  common  to  all  the  group,  there  are  many 
local  associations.  These  are  generally  named  after  birds 
and  may  be  considered  modern.  ^^Any  one  might  start 
a  new  society,  and  gather  round  him  his  co-founders,  taking 
any  object  that  might  strike  their  fancy  as  the  ground  and 
symbol  of  their  association."  ^  The  same  is  true 

of  the  African  societies.  The  negro,  according  to  Miss 
Kingsley,  ''gets  up  one  for  any  little  job  he  has  on  hand; 
it's  his  way,  like  the  Chinaman's.  Some  of  the  African 
secret  societies  are  good,  some  bad,  some  merely  so-so; 
some  are  equivalent  to  your  Freemasonry,  some  to  your 
Hooligan  gangs,  some  to  your  Antediluvian  Buffaloes  and 
Ancient  Shepherds,  some  to  your  Burial  clubs."  ^  Many 
of  these  African  secret  societies  seem  at  present  to  have 
their  reason  for  existence  purely  in  the  native  love  of  mystery. 
Some  have  undoubtedly  been  founded  for  common  pro- 
tection and  mutual  aid.  The  order  of  Manganga  affords 
an  instance  of  this  sort.  In  Kamerun,  where  Egbo  and 
other  secret  societies  had  become  engines  of  wholesale 
plunder  and  robbery,  the  slaves,  in  reprisal,  established 
this  new  order  for  their  own  benefit.    Its  members  acknowl- 


^  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  ^  West  African  Studies,  448.  Cf. 
vii  (Sidney,  1898),  781.  also  A.  G.  Leonard,  The  Lower  Niger 

^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  76.        and  its  Tribes  (London,  1906),  323- 

325. 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 


edge  no  allegiance  to  any  other  society.  One  of  the  chief 
provisions  of  the  society  is  that  initiates  shall  be  opposed 
to  the  chiefs  in  everything.^  The  terrible  Leopard  and 
Alligator  societies  common  to  the  coast  from  Sierra  Leone 
to  the  Niger,  Miss  Kingsley  regards  as  always  distinct  from 
the  tribal  secret  societies,  such  as  Egbo  and  Tasiy^  but 
Dr.  Nassau,  a  most  competent  observer,  identifies  the  tribal 
societies  of  the  Corisco  coast  (French  Congo)  v^ith  the 
Leopard  societies.^  It  seems  probable  that  the  cannibalism 
and  murder  associated  with  these  organizations  are  of 
recent  accretion.  In  all  cases,  men  go  in  for  both  the 
Leopard  and  the  tribal  societies.^ 

In  some  cases  the  tribal  societies  degenerate  into  pure 
impostures,  destitute  of  all  social  utility,  maintained  solely 
by  fraud,  and  liable  to  speedy  dissolution  once  the  secrets 
are  revealed.  The  Matambala  of  Florida  was  undermined 
by  the  free  admission  into  the  Banks  Island  lodges  of 
Florida  boys,  who  thus  learned  what  impostures  the  secrets 
really  were.  The  introduction  of  Christianity  completed 
the  process  of  degeneration;  "the  man  who  knew  how  to 
sacrifice  to  Stko  became  a  Christian,  the  sacred  precincts 
were  explored,  bull-roarers  became  the  playthings  of  the 
boys,  and  the  old  men  sat  and  wept  over  the  profanation 
and  their  loss  of  power  and  privilege."  ^ 

But  institutions  which  form  so  conspicuous  an  element 
of  tribal  life  do  not  as  a  rule  pass  away  rapidly,  or  fail  to 
leave  behind  them  some  evidence  of  their  former  power. 
Melanesia,  again,  affords  some  instructive  illustrations  of 
clubs  which  are  obvious  outgrowths  of  the  earlier  tribal 
societies.    Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  the  two  except 


.  ^  Hutchinson,  Ten  Years^  Wan- 
derings among  the  Ethiopians  (Lon- 
don, 1861),  4  sq.;  id. J  Impressions 
of  Western  Africa ,  144  sq. 

^  Travels  in  West  Africa,  536. 
3  Ihid.,  540,  542. 

^  Ibid.,  536.  See  also  Leonard, 
The  Lower  Niger  and  its  Tribes, 
324.  On  the  Human  Leopards  of 
Sierra  Leone,  now  stamped  out  by  the 


British  government,  see  Alldridge  in 
Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix  (1899), 
26-27;  more    fully   in  The 

Sherbro  and  its  Hinterland,  153- 
159- 

^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  99;  cf.  the 
account  by  the  Rev.  Alfred  Penny,  to 
whose  missionary  labors  the  downfall 
of  many  of  the  societies  is  due  {Ten 
Years  in  Melanesia,  70-72). 


128         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


by  the  fact  that  the  members  of  the  clubs  have  discarded 
all  the  paraphernalia  necessary  to  keep  up  the  supposed 
association  with  the  ghosts.  The  Tamate  of  Banks  Islands, 
formerly  a  powerful  society,  has  survived  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  and  exists  to-day  as  such  a  club.  "The 
secrecy  of  the  lodges  is  still  maintained,  the  salagoro  is 
unapproachable  by  women  and  the  uninitiated,  the  neophyte 
has  still  to  go  through  his  time  of  probation  and  seclusion, 
and  the  authority  of  the  society  is  maintained  by  too  much 
of  the  high-handed  tyranny  of  old  times."  ^  The  salagoroy 
or  lodge,  is  usually  established  in  some  secluded  place  near 
the  village.  Here  the  members  lounge  about  during  the 
day  and  often  take  their  meals. ^  Newly  admitted  members 
must  prepare  the  food  for  cooking  and  keep  the  salagoro 
swept.  The  lodge  itself  '^affords  a  corivenient  and  some- 
what distinguished  resort  in  the  heat  of  the  day."  ^ 

Some  Melanesian  clubs  are  exclusive,  require  heavy 
entrance  fees,  and  are  used  only  by  older  men  of  good  social 
position;  others  are  cheap  and  easy  of  entrance.  The 
social  status  of  a  native,  writes  Mr.  Codrington,  ''depends 
very  much  upon  his  membership  of  the  most  important 
of  these  clubs;  an  outsider  could  never  be  a  person  of  con- 
sequence; a  man  of  good  social  position  would  think  it 
his  duty  to  secure  the  same  position  for  his  son  by  entering 
him  early  in  the  clubs  to  which  he  himself  belonged."  ^ 
At  Meli,  one  of  the  New  Hebrides,  there  are  six  ranks  or 
grades  of  social  position  attained  by  fulfilling  various  re- 
quirements and  especially  by  the  slaughter  of  pigs.  The  lat- 
ter, though  sacrificed  to  the  gods,  are  eaten  by  the  members 
of  the  different  grades.  As  long  as  a  man  eats  with  the 
women,  the  word  Nahor  is  aifixed  to  his  name.  When 
he  sacrifices  a  pig,  he  assumes  the  grade  of  Merih,  With 
the  sacrifice  of  another  pig  he  steps  into  higher  rank  and 
becomes  a  Dangur,  If  a  youth  has  a  rich  father  who  can 
afford  to  sacrifice  pigs  in  quick  succession,  his  passage  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest  grades  is  much  accelerated.  How- 


*  Codrington,  Melanesians,  74. 
2  Ihid.,  77. 


3  Ihid.,  82. 
*  Ihid.y  92. 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 


ever,  the  members  of  the  advanced  degrees,  and  above  all 
the  chiefs,  understand  how  to  hinder  the  rise  of  candidates 
not  personally  acceptable  to  them.  If  a  man  is  too  poor 
to  sacrifice  a  pig,  he  must  remain  a  Nahor  and  eat  v^ith 
the  women.  The  different  classes  are  practically  clubs 
whose  members  eat  separately  and  have  little  intercourse 
with  those  of  higher  or  lower  rank.^  At  Malekula, 

another  of  the  New  Hebrides,  the  usual  initiation  rites  are 
still  retained,  but  the  four  degrees  in  which  the  secret  society 
is  divided,  —  Bara,  Gulguly  Mai,  and  Mara,  —  are  rigidly 
separated  from  one  another.  No  member  of  one  of  these 
degrees  may  eat  food  with  a  member  of  any  other  or  even 
cook  it  at  the  same  fire.  To  become  a  Bara  or  to  attain 
any  higher  degree,  a  man  prepares  a  festival  at  which  he 
sets  up  a  femes,  a  carved  and  painted  fern  tree,  to  repre- 
sent one  of  his  ancestors,  kills  two  to  ten  pigs,  and  assumes 
the  new  name  appropriate  to  the  degree  he  has  reached.^ 

In  the  Suqe  found  throughout  the  Banks  Islands 
and  the  Northern  New  Hebrides,  we  have  a  remarkable 
example  of  an  association  existing  as  a  club  in  the  midst 
of  numerous  secret  societies,  and  apparently  unconnected 
with  them.  Its  only  secrecy  appears  to  be  at  the  initiation 
of  new  members,  though  women  are  strictly  excluded. 
The  society  is  divided  into  degrees,  and  the  passage  through 
them  is  a  long  and  very  expensive  process.  Nearly  all  the 
natives  are  entered  as  boys  into  the  society,  but  only  a  few 
get  to  the  middle  rank  and  beyond.  "In  the  Banks  Island 
stories  the  poor  lad  or  orphan  who  becomes  the  Fortunate 
Youth  rises  to  greatness  by  the  Suqe;  he  takes  the  highest 
grade  in  this  instead  of  marrying  the  king's  daughter.'*  ^ 
A  place  in  the  society  not  only  carried  with  it  social  honor 
in  this  life;  a  member  of  the  Suqe  was  highly  honored  after 
death  and  was  sure  of  a  happy  lot  in  the  next  world.  As 
one  native  said,  "^The  reason  for  Suqe  is  this,  that  hereafter 
when  a  man  comes  to  die,  his  soul  may  remain  in  that  place 
Panoi;  but  if  any  one  should  die  who  has  not  killed  a  pig, 

^  Baessler,  Siidsee-Bilder,  203-205.  Adv.  Sci.,  iv  (Sidney,  1893),  704- 
^  Leggatt  in  Rep.  Austr.   Assoc.     705.         ^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  103. 

K 


130         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

his  soul  will  just  stay  on  a  tree,  hanging  for  ever  on  it  like 
a  flying  fox. ' ^  The  society  was  widely  extended,  for  we 
are  told  that  the  rank  and  titles  obtained  by  membership 
"not  only  hold  good  in  the  man's  own  village,  but  are 
recognized  in  all  the  surrounding  settlements  and  islands 
which  happened  not  to  be  at  war  with  his  native  place/'  ^ 
The  voluntary  associations  of  the  North  American  Indians 
aff^ord  another  illustration  of  the  tendency  towards  the 
formation  of  limited  and  local  organizations  somewhat 
similar  to  the  Melanesian  clubs.  But,  unlike  the  latter, 
they  are  usually  non-secret  in  character,  and  moreover 
their  membership  frequently  includes  women.  Such  as- 
sociations are  not  of  necessity  either  ancient  or  permanent. 
They  are  social  rather  than  religious  associations,  formed 
by  the  inclusion  of  individuals  from  the  different  clans  of 
the  tribe  without  respect  to  the  totemic  groupings.  Their 
members  are  usually  designated  by  marks  and  paintings 
distinct  from  those  which  indicate  the  clan  totems.  Their 
organization  indicates  an  origin  in  conditions  similar  to 
those  which  give  rise  to  the  degrees  of  the  secret  societies 
generally  —  in  the  natural  grouping  together  of  men  of  the 
same  age  who  have  similar  duties  and  interests  in  life.  In 
Australia  and  Africa,  the  various  age  groupings  are  little 
more  than  the  degrees  into  which  the  tribe,  as  a  secret  as- 


^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  112. 

2  H.  Meade,  A  Ride  through  the 
Disturbed  Districts  of  New  Zealand, 
together  with  Some  Account  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands  (London,  1870), 
266.  Though  we  have  no  positive 
evidence  on  the  subject,  it  is  quite 
possible  to  regard  the  Suqe  as  for- 
merly a  great  tribal  society  which 
arose,  like  the  Dukduk  and  Tamate 
of  these  islands,  on  the  basis  of  the 
primitive  puberty  institution.  Throw- 
ing off  the  mask  of  pretended  as- 
sociation with  the  ghosts,  it  became 
in  time  what  is  now  practically  a 
great  club  embracing  all  the  men 
in  its  membership.  The  manner  of 
entering  the  Suqe  presents  some 
analogies  to  tribal  initiation  rites. 


The  candidate  must  have  his  in- 
troducer or  sponsor,  his  mother's 
brother  ordinarily,  who  reminds  us 
of  the  guardian  uncles  at  the  initia- 
tory rites  of  the  Torres  Straits 
islanders.  The  candidate  is  confined 
in  the  Gamal,  or  men's  house,  and  is 
required  to  fast  sometimes  for  five 
days  before  being  admitted.  The 
striking  resemblance  of  the  Suqe,  in 
both  organization  and  character,  to 
the  Areoi  society  of  Tahiti  and  other 
Polynesian  islands,  on  the  connection 
of  which  with  earlier  puberty  in- 
stitutions we  have  more  decisive 
evidence  {infra,  i6/\  sq.)  serves  to  con- 
firm this  hypothesis.  For  an  in- 
teresting description  of  the  Suqe,  see 
Codrington,  op.  cit.,  101-115. 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES  131 

sociation  composed  of  initiated  men,  is  divided.  In  North 
America,  these  degrees  are  more  clearly  defined  and  have 
assumed  a  separateness  and  distinctiveness  which  entitles 
them  to  rank  as  quasi-independent  societies.  The  decline 
among  the  American  Indians,  of  the  primitive  tribal  organiza- 
tion consisting  of  all  initiated  men,  leads  to  the  belief  that 
these  voluntary  societies  represent  a  stage  of  development 
similar  to  that  manifested  by  club  formations  elsew^here. 
The  dropping  of  all  secrecy,  the  admission  of  women,  and 
the  easy  formation  of  new  societies  on  the  old  models  would 
then  be  explained  as  in  Melanesia,  where  the  formation  of 
clubs  from  the  secret  societies  is  most  clearly  exhibited. 
Such  associations,  numerous  among  many  of  the  tribes 
of  the  Central  West  often  exert  great  influence  upon  both 
the  internal  and  external  affairs  of  an  Indian  community. 

Age  societies  are  to  be  found  among  nearly  all  of  the 
Siouan  tribes.  The  Mandans  had  six  orders  for  the  men 
as  well  as  four  for  the  women.  Entrance  into  the  first 
order  was  usually  purchased  for  a  candidate  by  his  father, 
a  custom  which  presents  an  interesting  parallel  to  the 
Melanesian  practice.  The  dances  of  the  different  classes 
were  fundamentally  the  same,  though  to  each  one  was 
attached  a  different  song  and  sometimes  particular  steps. ^ 
The  Crow  Indians  had  eight  of  these  societies.^  The 
Hidatsa  Indians  had  at  least  three  societies  for  the  men, 
each  with  its  own  songs,  dances,  and  ceremonies,  besides 
corresponding  societies  for  the  women. ^  The 
Akitcita  among  the  Assiniboin  tribes  was  an  organiza- 
tion of  men  between  twenty-five  and  forty-five  years  of  age. 
Its  members  served  as  soldiers  and  policemen  and  were 
intrusted  with  the  execution  of  the  decisions  of  the  tribal 
council.  Young  men,  women,  and  children  might  not 
enter  the  lodge  of  the  society  when  tribal  matters  were  under 


^  Maximilien  de  Wied-Neuwied, 
Voyage  dans  VInterieur  de  VAmeri- 
que  du  Nord  (Paris,  1841),  ii,  408- 
415.  For  the  legend  of  the  origin 
of  the  societies,  see  ibid.^  ii,  433-434. 

^  Maximilien  de  Wied-Neuweid, 
op.  cit.,  ii,  36. 


^  Matthews  in  United  States  Geo- 
logical and  Geographical  Survey^ 
Miscellaneous  Publications y  no.  vii 
(Washington,  1877),  47,  153,  155- 
156,  189,  192,  197. 


132         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

consideration.^  The  Omaha  society  of  Poogthun 

was  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  tribe.  Chiefs  only  were  eligible. 
The  leader  was  he  who  could  count  the  greatest  number  of 
valiant  deeds.  A  man  must  keep  up  his  war  record  to 
maintain  a  place  in  the  order.  The  songs  of  the  society 
served  as  tribal  archives,  for  they  preserved  the  names 
and  deeds  of  the  Omaha  heroes.^  The  Haethuska  society 
was  more  democratic ;  only  a  valiant  war  record  was  neces- 
sary for  admission  and  promotion.  Other  societies  were 
numerous,  each  of  which  had  its  special  dance.  Thus 
there  was  the  "Dance  of  those  expecting  to  die."  Members 
of  the  society  with  this  dance  "always  go  prepared  to  meet 
the  enemy  and  to  fall  in  battle.''  Those  who  had  the 
"Make-no-flight  dance,"  vow  not  to  flee  from  a  foe.  Only 
very  brave  men  could  participate  in  the  "Dance  in  which 
buffalo  head-dresses  were  put  on.  Those  who  were  only 
a  little  brave  could  not  dance."  The  Mandan  dance  came 
to  the  Omahas  from  the  Ponkas,  who  in  turn  had  learned 
it  from  the  Dakotas.  This  was  celebrated  as  a  bravery 
dance  over  the  bodies  of  warriors  who  had  fallen  in  battle. 
"None  but  aged  men  and  those  in  the  prime  of  life  belong 
to  this  society.  All  are  expected  to  behave  themselves, 
to  be  sober,  and  refrain  from  quarrelling  and  fighting  among 
themselves."  The  Tokolo  was  a  bravery  society  for  the 
younger  men.  Quarrelling  was  prohibited  among  the 
members.  "Two  men  who  do  not  fear  death  are  the  leaders 
in  the  dance."  ^  Among  the  Kiowas  each  of  the 

six  orders  making  up  the  organization  called  Tapahe^  or 
Warriors,  has  its  own  dance,  songs,  insignia,  and  duties. 
"The  members  were  first  enrolled  as  boys  among  the 
'Rabbits,'  and  were  afterward  promoted,  according  to 
merit  or  the  necessities  of  war,  in  regular  progression  to 
higher  ranks.  Only  a  few,  however,  ever  attained  the  highest 


^  Dorsey  in  Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  224-225. 

^  Miss  Fletcher  in  Archceological 
and  Ethnological  Papers  of  the  Pea- 
body  Museum,  i  (Cambridge,  1893), 
23;  id.,  Indian  Song  and  Story 
from  North  America,  4,  8,  13. 


^  Dorsey  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur, 
Ethnol,  352-355;  S.  H.  Long,  Ac- 
count of  an  Expedition  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  the  Rocky  Mountains  (Phil- 
adelphia, 1823),  i,  207-208. 


DECLINE  OF  TRIBAL  SOCIETIES 


order,  that  of  the  Kaitsenko.  Almost  every  able-bodied 
man   was   enrolled."  ^  The    Blackfoot  Ikunuh- 

kahtsi^  or  "all  comrades/'  consisted  of  a  dozen  or  more 
secret  classes  graded  according  to  age,  "the  whole  con- 
stituting an  association  which  was  in  part  benevolent 
and  helpful,  and  in  part  military,  but  whose  main  function 
was  to  punish  offences  against  society  at  large.  All 
these  societies  were  really  law  and  order  associations."  ^ 
Among  the  tribes  of  Algonquian  stock,  noticeably  the 
Cheyennes  ^  and  the  Arapaho/  age  societies  were  numerous 
and  distinct.  Among  the  Arapaho  whose  ceremonies 
were  typical  of  those  practised  by  other  Plains  tribes,  the 
most  sacred  and  important  dances  were  grouped  under 
the  general  title  Bayaawu.  This  consisted,  first,  of  the  Sun 
Dance,  and,  second,  of  a  series  of  dances  and  ceremonials 
performed  by  members  of  the  various  age  societies.  In 
the  Sun  Dance  men  of  any  age  or  ceremonial  affiliations 
might  participate.  The  dancers  had  no  characteristic 
regalia  and  were  all  of  the  same  degree  or  rank.^  The 
ceremonies  of  the  age  societies  differed  materially  from 
those  of  the  Sun  Dance.  They  covered  the  entire  period 
of  manhood,  from  youth  to  old  age ;  each  society,  moreover, 
had  its  own  name  and  organization  and  there  was  no  fasting 
or  torture  as  in  the  Sun  Dance.  A  further  difference  was 
found  in  the  fixed  and  elaborate  regalia  required  for  each  of 
the  ceremonies.^  The  members  of  each  society  who  took 
part  in  the  dances  pertaining  to  it  were  instructed  by  the 

^  Mooney   in   Seventeenth   Ann.  The  Plains  of  the  Great  West,  266- 

Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.,  229-230.  267. 

^  Grinnell,  Blackfoot  Lodge  Tales,  ^  Hayden,     op.    cit.,  325-326; 

220-221.    On    the    Blackfoot    age  Mooney  in  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rep. 

societies,  see    also    Maximilien  de  Bur.    Ethnol.,    986-990;  Kroeber 

Wied-Neuwied,  op.  cit.,  ii,  213-216;  in  Bull.  Amer.  Mus.  JSfat.  Hist., 

and  Maclean  in  Trans.  Canadian  xviii,  part  ii,  151  sq. 

Inst.,  iv  (1895),  255  (age  distinctions  ^  Kroeber,  op.  cit.,  152. 

of  the  Blood  Indians,  a  branch  of  ^  For  the  legend  of  the  formation 

the  Alberta  Blackfoot  tribes).  of  the  Bayaawu,  see  Dorsey  and 

^  Hayden  in  Trans.  Amer.  Philos.  Kroeber,  ^'Traditions  of  the  Arap- 

Soc,  new   series,  xii    (1863),  281;  aho,"    Publications    of    the  Field 

Dyer,  quoted  in  Ann.  Rep.  Smith-  Columbian  Museum,  Anthropological 

sonian    Inst,  for    188^,    part    ii  Series,  v  (1903),  13  sq. 
(Washington,    1886),    93;  Dodge, 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


older  men  who  had  been  through  the  ceremonies  and  who 
were  called  the  dancers'  grandfathers.  These  men  again, 
and  the  entire  set  of  ceremonial  dances  belonging  to  the 
different  societies,  were  under  the  direction  of  the  seven  old 
men  who  constituted  the  sixth  society.^  ''These  seven  old 
men  embodied  everything  that  was  most  sacred  in  Arapaho 
life.  They  directed  all  the  lodges.  The  actual  part  they 
played  in  these  consisted  chiefly  of  directing  the  grand- 
fathers, often  only  by  gestures.  The  grandfathers,  in 
turn,  instructed  the  dancers.  This  oldest  society  is  there- 
fore said  to  contain  all  the  others.  Every  dance,  every 
song,  and  every  action  of  the  lodges  was  performed  at  the 
direction  of  these  old  men.''  ^ 

^  Kroeber  in  Bull.  Amer.  Mus,  ^  Ibid.j  207-208. 

Nat.  Hist.,  xviii,  part  ii,  155. 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES 

Tribal  secret  societies,  such  as  those  of  Melanesia  and 
Africa,  arise,  as  we  have  seen,  through  what  has  been  de- 
scribed as  a  process  of  gradual  shrinkage  of  the  original 
puberty  institution  in  which,  after  initiation,  all  men  of  the 
tribe  are  members.  At  the  beginning  the  tribe  is  itself 
the  secret  association.  But  with  the  gradual  limitation  of 
membership,  and  especially  with  the  reservation  of  the  upper 
ranks  in  these  associations  to  the  more  powerful  members 
of  the  tribe,  such  as  the  heads  of  totems,  the  shamans,  and 
the  richer  and  more  prominent  men  generally,  secret  socie- 
ties of  the  familiar  type  emerge.  In  many  instances  such 
societies  retain  something  of  their  originally  democratic 
organization  in  that  entrance  to  the  lower  degrees  is  still 
customary  for  every  man  at  puberty.  These  societies, 
moreover,  come  to  perform  functions  of  an  important  nature. 
Their  judicial  and  political  duties  appear  to  be  at  this  stage 
of  development  the  most  striking  and  impressive  feature 
of  the  organizations,  and  have  naturally  attracted  most 
attention.  With  the  centralization  of  political  power,  func- 
tions of  this  nature  are  gradually  superseded  by  more  effec- 
tive methods  of  social  control.  The  formal  initiation  of 
lads  into  manhood,  once  an  important  duty  of  these  orders, 
is  abandoned  or  its  tribal  purpose  is  much  altered.  The 
secret  societies  then  pass  out  of  existence  or  decline  into 
purely  social  clubs. 

In  some  instances,  however,  it  is  possible  to  discover 
the  secret  societies  surviving  as  organizations  of  priests  and 
shamans,  in  whose  charge  are  the  various  dramatic  and 
magical  rites  of  the  tribe.    Of  this  phase  of  their  existence 

135 


136         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


illustrations  from  Melanesia,  Africa,  and  other  regions  are 
not  wanting.  When  we  turn  to  the  secret  associations  so 
numerous  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America,  we 
find  little  evidence  of  the  political  and  judicial  duties  assumed 
by  similar  associations  elsewhere.  Nor  is  the  connection 
with  the  primitive  puberty  institution  so  manifest  as  in 
Africa  or  Melanesia.  Traces  there  are  of  earlier  initiatory 
rites  at  puberty,  but  the  development  of  the  secret  societies 
has  been  in  general  along  lines  which,  so  far  as  our  observa- 
tion reaches,  do  not  closely  parallel  the  stages  passed  through 
in  other  parts  of  the  world.  The  outcome,  however,  of 
this  development  has  been  the  creation  in  every  tribe  of 
numerous  fraternities  whose  dramatic  and  magical  rites 
reproduce  with  remarkable  fidelity  those  practised  by  the 
secret  societies  of  Melanesia,  Polynesia,  and  Africa. 

This  close  resemblance,  as  dramatic  and  magical  corpora- 
tions, between  the  secret  organizations  of  such  widely 
separated  peoples,  renders  an  investigation  of  its  origin 
imperative.  That  origin  is  to  be  found,  it  is  believed,  in 
the  fact  that  primitive  secret  associations,  whether  in  the 
form  of  the  puberty  institution  as  among  the  Australians, 
the  tribal  society  as  among  Melanesian  and  African  peo- 
ples, or  the  fraternity  as  developed  by  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,  everywhere  exhibit  the  characteristics  of  the 
original  clan  organization  which  underlies  them. 

Initiation  ceremonies  of  the  refinement  and  complexity 
that  has  been  described  could  hardly  have  developed  in 
that  earlier  stage  of  human  aggregation  when  there  were 
no  real  tribes,  —  no  large  associations  occupying  well- 
defined  localities,  all  of  whose  members  considered  them- 
selves as  units  in  one  organization.  That  tribal  solidarity 
of  which  initiatory  ceremonies  are  the  recognition  is  not 
a  primitive  development.  Tribal  initiation  ceremonies  pre- 
suppose the  tribe.  Yet  their  beginnings  must  be  sought 
in  a  stage  of  development  of  human  society  more  remote 
than  that  of  the  tribe;  in  a  word,  in  the  primitive  totemic 
clan  itself.  Initiation  into  the  tribe  must  have  been  pre- 
ceded by  some  form  of  initiation  into  the  clan.  When  in 
process  of  time  various  clans  unite  to  form  tribal  aggregates, 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  137 


ceremonies  of  initiation  as  well  as  the  dramatic  and  magical 
rites  of  the  separate  clans  are  transferred  to  the  newly 
formed  tribe.  Where  the  puberty  institutions  still  retain 
their  primitive  vigor,  as  among  the  Australians  and  New 
Guinea  tribes,  the  original  clan  ceremonies  are  clearly  seen 
underlying  the  existing  tribal  rites.  Where,  from  the  puberty 
institutions,  secret  societies  of  more  or  less  limited  member- 
ship have  arisen,  as  in  Melanesia  and  Africa,  we  shall  find 
in  these  organizations  fewer  traces  of  the  antecedent  clan 
structure.  Disintegration  of  the  clans  has  there  been 
largely  accomplished.  In  the  fraternities  of  the  North 
American  Indians,  on  the  other  hand,  the  clan  structure 
underlying  the  organizations  is  still,  in  a  number  of  instances, 
plainly  perceptible.  The  rise  of  secret  societies  in  their 
developed  form  appears,  in  fact,  to  be  invariably  associated 
with  the  decline  of  the  totemic  clans.  In  many  instances 
the  formation  of  these  societies,  enrolling  their  members 
from  all  parts  of  the  tribe,  irrespective  of  clan  ties,  must 
contribute  powerfully  to  the  disintegration  of  the  clan 
structure.  Such  societies,  furnishing  a  mode  of  organiza- 
tion which  unites  the  members  of  the  tribe  more  firmly 
than  the  earlier  totemic  arrangements,  are  thus  at  once  a 
contributing  cause  of  the  decline  of  the  clans  and  the  neces- 
sary outcome  of  that  decline.  A  study  of  the  clan  organiza- 
tion underlying  the  tribal  initiation  ceremonies  of  some 
primitive  peoples  will  exhibit  two  important  truths  for  our 
future  study;  namely,  the  means  by  which  clan  rites  are 
passed  over  into  those  of  the  tribe,  and  second,  the  nature 
of  those  rites  which  are  associated  with  the  primitive  totemic 
clan. 

Among  the  tribes  of  Eastern  Australia,  it  is  the  general 
rule  that  at  the  Borasy  or  meetings  for  initiation  purposes, 
all  divisions  of  the  tribe  shall  be  present.  The  same  rule 
prevails  where  several  tribes  by  intermarriage  come  to 
form  a  community.  Invitations  to  attend  the  Bora  meeting 
are  sent  out  to  all  the  divisions  of  the  tribe,  or  to  all  the  tribes 
comprising  a  community.  Among  the  Kamilaroi,  for  ex- 
ample, when  it  has  been  decided  to  institute  a  Bora  the  head- 
man of  a  tribe,  to  which  at  a  previous  inaugural  gathering 


138         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


this  honor  of  holding  the  next  Bora  has  been  assigned,^ 
sends  out  a  messenger,  always  an  individual  of  some  impor- 
tance,^ to  give  the  requisite  notice  to  the  tribes  which  are 
to  be  present  at  the  ceremonies.  He  proceeds  from  tribe 
to  tribe,  carrying  the  sacred  bull-roarer  or  some  other 
equally  significant  token  of  his  office,^  and  makes  a  complete 
circuit  of  the  community.^  Should  the  Bora  ceremonies 
be  confined  to  one  tribe,  the  same  care  is  manifested  to 
invite  all  the  local  groups,  scattered  as  they  may  be  over 
a  wide  territory.  By  such  proceedings,  the  tribal  or  inter- 
tribal character  of  the  Bora  meetings  is  clearly  indicated. 

Another  important  characteristic  comes  out  in  these  pro- 
ceedings. Australian  tribes  are  divided  into  two  inter- 
marrying moieties,  sections,  or  ''classes."  Among  most 
of  the  Eastern  tribes  these  ''classes'^  are  the  exogamous 
totemic  clans.  One  totemic  ''class"  summons  the  other 
to  initiation.  The  messengers  must  be  of  the  same  totem 
as  the  headman  who  sends  them  out.^  Moreover,  the  head- 
man to  whom  the  message  is  sent  must  be  of  the  same 
totem  as  the  original  sender.  The  message  travels  through 
the  community,  being  carried  by  the  headman  of  one  totem 
and  being  then  communicated  by  him  to  the  principal  men 
of  the  different  totems  which  form  the  local  groups.  The 
community  which  then  assembles  for  initiation  purposes 


^  Among  the  Coast  Murring,  the 
call  is  sent  out  either  on  the  initiative 
of  one  of  the  principal  men  of  the 
tribe  or  in  response  to  the  decision 
of  the  inner  council  of  the  heads  of 
totems  (Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst. J  xiii,  1884,  438). 

^  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxviii  (1894), 
107. 

^  Mathews  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxvi  (1897),  324. 

^  Sometimes  it  happens  that  the 
headman  of  the  first  tribe  visited, 
upon  receiving  the  notice  sends  his 
own  messenger  to  the  headman  of 
a  second  tribe,  who  in  like  manner 
transmits  it  to  a  third,  and  so  on  until 


all  the  tribes  are  invited  (id..  Jour.  ♦ 
and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South 
Wales,  xxxi,  1897,  120).  In  a  some- 
what similar  way  and  for  the  same 
purpose,  when  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Grand  Medicine  Lodge  of  the  Me- 
nomini  Indians  are  to  be  held,  the 
chief  priest  of  the  society  sends  out  a 
courier  with  a  message  stick  to  deliver 
to  each  member  an  invitation  to  at- 
tend (Hoffman  in  Fourteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  EthnoL,  70-71). 

^  This  rule  is  occasionally  broken 
for  reasons  of  special  weight 
(Mathews  in  Amer.  Anthropologist, 
ix  (1896),  330;  id.,  Jour.  An- 
throp. Inst.,  XXV,  1896,  322). 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  139 

is  made  up  of  the  two  exogamous  totemic  divisions  of  the 
tribe  or  tribes.  Thus  one  totemic  moiety  summons  the 
other  to  the  Bora  ceremonies.^ 

The  actual  ceremonies  of  initiation  further  recognize  this 
underlying  clan  organization.  Formerly,  we  may  suppose, 
before  the  segmentation  of  a  clan  or  the  consolidation  of 
diifferent  clans  proceeded  so  far  as  to  form  tribal  aggregates 
connected  by  the  practice  of  exogamy,  a  boy  entering  upon 
manhood  was  initiated  by  his  own  clansmen.  But  it  is 
characteristic  of  these  Australian  ceremonies  in  their  present 
aspect  that  the  actual  initiation  of  the  youth  is  in  charge 
of  the  totemic  moiety  of  the  tribe  from  which,  as  an  initi- 
ated man,  he  will  be  allowed  to  choose  his  wife.  In  other 
words,  at  the  Boras  those  in  charge  of  the  lads  are  their 
real  or  potential  brothers-in-law.^  The  care  of  the  novice 
during  the  ceremonies  rests  always  with  m,en  of  the  (totemic) 
moiety  opposite  to  his  own.^  The  reason  for  this  arrange- 
ment becomes  evident  when  it  is  remembered  that  the 
principal  purpose  of  the  initiatory  rites  among  the  Aus- 
tralian natives  is  to  prepare  the  lads  for  marriage.  The 
strict  regulations  under  which  marriage  is  permitted,  and 


^  This  same  principle  prevails 
where  the  earher  totemic  organiza- 
tion has  broken  down  and  paternal 
descent  has  arisen,  as  among  the 
Kurnai  of  Victoria.  Here  the  tribe 
#  is  organized  by  local  classes  and  the 
call  for  initiation  is  sent  from  local 
class  to  local  class  in  the  different 
tribes  (Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  433  sq.;  id.,  Rep.  Austr. 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.j  iii  (Sidney,  1891), 
344  sq.;  id.,  Native  Tribes  of 
South-East  Australia,  ^12  \  Mathews 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  hist.,  xxiv,  1895, 
411  n.^). 

^  Mathews  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
Soc,  xxxix  (1900),  633;  id..  Jour, 
and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales, 
xxxi  (1897),  128;  xxxii  (1898),  245; 
Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiii 
(1884),  435  sq. ;  id.,  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.,  iii  (Sidney,  1891),  344  sq. 
Similarly  among   the  Arunta,  the 


first  of  the  initiatory  ceremonies  is 
performed  by  men  who  stand  to  the 
novice  ''in  the  relationship  of  TJm- 
hirna;  that  is,  a  man  who  is  the 
brother  of  a  woman  of  the  class  from 
which  his,  i.e.  the  boy's,  wife  must 
come"  (Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  215;  cf. 
also  230).  Among  the  Yaraikanna 
tribe  of  Cape  York  (Queensland) 
the  lads  to  be  initiated  are  con- 
ducted into  the  bush  by  their  sev- 
eral mawara,  the  men  of  the  clan 
into  which  each  will  have  to  marry 
{Rep.  Cambr.  Anthrop.  Expedition 
to  Torres  Straits,  v,  220). 

^  Only  one  exception  to  this  rule 
has  been  discovered  —  in  the  case 
of  the  Umba  ceremonies  of  the  Wakel- 
bura  tribe  of  Queensland  (Howitt, 
Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Aus- 
tralia, 608). 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


especially  the  careful  assignment  of  the  limits  within  which 
the  novices  may  choose  their  future  wives,  are  impressed 
upon  the  novices  at  the  great  inaugural  meetings,  in  this 
clear  and  unequivocal  fashion. 

At  these  initiatory  meetings  again,  the  underlying  clan 
basis  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  performances,  songs,  and 
dances  which  constitute  the  greatest  part  of  the  proceedings, 
are  exhibited  in  alternation  by  each  of  the  two  tribal  moie- 
ties,^ or,  as  among  some  Central  Australian  tribes,  by  the 
various  totem  groups.  Among  the  Arunta,  where  the  social 
organization  of  the  tribe  by  totem  clans  is  in  decay,  each 
local  group  is  in  charge  of  the  preliminary  initiation  of  its 
own  members.  But  for  the  important  Engwura^  or  Fire 
Ceremony,  the  last  stage  in  the  long  series  of  initiation  rites, 
messengers  carrying  the  sacred  Churinga  are  sent  out  to 
the  various  local  groups  comprising  the  tribe,  and  the  cere- 
monies have  a  distinctively  tribal  character.^  Not  until 
the  novices  have  passed  through  the  Engwura  do  they 
graduate  as  Urliara^  or  fully  initiated  tribesmen.  During 
its  celebration  the  young  men  —  often  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years  of  age  —  are  completely  under  the  control  of  the  elders 
whose  orders  they  must  obey  implicitly.  The  principal 
object  of  the  Engwura  seems  to  be  that  of  carefully  instruct- 
ing the  younger  men,  now  arrived  at  manhood,  in  all  the 
traditions  and  customs  of  the  tribe.  This  knowledge  is 
conveyed  in  a  most  effective  manner  by  means  of  various 
elaborate  ceremonies  of  a  dramatic  nature,  performed  by 
members  of  the  different  totems  and  intended  to  picture  events 
in  the  life  of  the  mythic  ancestral  individuals  who  lived  in 
the  Alcheringa  time  —  half-animal  creations  whose  descen- 
dants are  the  present  members  of  the  Arunta  tribe. ^  Thus 


*  Howitt  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  446  sq.  The  totem 
dances  performed  at  the  Coast  Mur- 
ring  rites  are  described  at  length  in 
The  Native  Tribes  of  South-East 
Australia,  546  sq. 

Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  213, 
275 


^  In  the  Alcheringa  period,  so 
far  away  that  the  native  mind  does 
not  attempt  to  conceive  of  anything 
before  it,  the  ancestors  of  the  Arunta 
were  animal-men  or  plant-men,  en- 
dowed with  powers  not  possessed  by 
their  present  descendants.  All  over 
the  district  occupied  by  the  Arunta 
are  a  large  number  of  Oknanikilla, 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  141 


performances  which  seem  on  the  outside  merely  imitations 
of  the  actions  of  different  animals  are  really  part  of  the 
instruction  of  the  novice  in  the  sacred  lore  connected  with 
the  totems  and  the  ancestors  of  the  various  clans. ^  These 
various  ceremonies  presented  at  the  Engwura  belong  to 
the  different  totemic  groups  into  which  the  tribe  is  divided. 
Among  the  Arunta,  as  already  mentioned,  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  tribe  by  totem  clans  does  not  prevail ;  paternal 
descent  is  established,  and  the  exogamous  laws  do  not  rest 
upon  a  totemic  foundation.  That  this  organization  of  the 
tribe  is  the  development  of  an  earlier  state  of  things  in 
which  the  social  aspects  of  totemism  were  prominent,  is 
most  probable,  though  the  question  is  still  an  open  one. 
At  any  rate  the  Arunta  totem  groups  are  now  concerned 
with  ceremonies  of  a  dramatic  and  magical  character.  The 
entire  area  occupied  by  the  tribe  is  divided  into  a  number 
of  localities  owned  and  inhabited  by  the  local  groups,  and 
with  each  locality  is  identified  a  particular  totem  which 
gives  its  name  to  the  members  of  the  local  group. ^  The 
men  who  assemble  at  the  Engwura  represent  these  various 
local  totem  groups,  and  they  bring  with  them  for  presenta- 
tion the  ceremonies  connected  with  their  totems.  Each 
ceremony  is  the  Quabara  of  a  certain  totem.  More  than 
this,  each  Quabara  is  associated  with  a  particular  part  of 
the  area  occupied  by  the  local  group.  Further  complexity 
is  added  when  we  learn  that  each  ceremony  is  usually  Con- 


or local  totem  centres,  where  in  the 
Alcheringa  period,  the  ancestors 
lived,  or  camped  during  their  wander- 
ings, and  where  some  of  them  died 
and  went  down  into  the  ground, 
leaving  their  Churinga.  With  the 
Churinga  they  left  in  these  Oknani- 
killa,  are  associated  spirit  individ- 
uals, and  when  an  Arunta  child  is 
born,  his  mother  is  beheved  to  have 
been  entered  by  one  of  these  spirits. 
Thus  every  member  of  the  tribe  is  a 
reincarnation  of  an  Alcheringa  an- 
cestor; and  his  totem  is  that  of  the 
totem  centre,  or  Oknanikilla,  with 
which  his  mother  was  by  any  accident 


associated  at  the  time  of  his  conception 
(Spencer  and  Gillen,  op.  cit.,  119  sq.). 

^  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Aus- 
tralia, 277  sq.  These  performances, 
called  Quabara,  numbered  sixty  or 
seventy  at  the  Engwura  witnessed  by 
Messrs.  Spencer  and  Gillen.  The 
Engwura  continued  over  four  months, 
and  during  this  time,  to  the  middle 
of  the  following  January  there  was 
a  constant  succession  of  ceremonies, 
not  a  day  passing  without  one,  while 
there  were  sometimes  as  many  as  five 
or  six  within  the  twenty-four  hours*' 
(ibid.,  272;  cf.  118). 
Ibid.,  277. 


142         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

sidered  as  the  property  of  some  special  individual  of  the 
totem  and  local  group  concerned,  who  alone  has  the  right 
of  performing  it.  Such  a  ceremony  has  either  been  received 
by  the  performer  by  inheritance  from  his  father  or  elder 
brother,  or  it  may  have  come  as  a  gift,  directly  from  the 
Iruntartnidy  or  spirits,  who  performed  it  for  his  benefit,  so 
he  says,  and  then  presented  it  to  him.^  At  the  Engwura 
every  one  who  was  an  initiated  member  of  the  special  totem 
with  which  any  given  ceremony  was  concerned,  could  be 
present  at  the  preparation  for  the  ceremony,  ''but  no  one 
else  would  come  near  except  by  special  invitation  of  the 
individual  to  whom  it  belonged,  and  he  could  invite  any 
one  belonging  to  any  class  or  totem  to  be  present  or  to  take 
part  in  the  performance."  The  mixture  of  men  of  all  groups 
is  to  be  associated  with  the  fact  that  the  Engwura  ''is  an 
occasion  on  which  members  of  all  divisions  of  the  tribe  and 
of  all  totems  are  gathered  together,  and  one  of  the  main 
objects  of  which  is  the  handing  on  to  the  younger  men  of 
the  knowledge  carefully  treasured  up  by  the  older  men  of 
the  past  history  of  the  tribe,  so  far  as  it  is  concerned  with 
the  totems  and  the  Churinga."  ^  This  evidence  afforded 
by  the  Arunta  tribe  exhibits  with  some  clearness  the  form 
in  which  at  least  among  Australian  tribes  the  decline  of 
clan  totemism  takes  place.  The  clans  whose  union  formed 
the  tribe  appear  at  the  Engwura  as  local  totemic  groups 
whose  sole  function  is  the  presentation  of  various  dramatic 
and,  as  will  be  shown,  of  magical  ceremonies.  Even  this 
restriction  is  in  process  of  decay;  the  ceremonies  originally 
confined  to  a  particular  totem  group  are  being  parcelled 
out  among  the  different  totem  groups  making  up  the  tribe. 
That  this  process  has  not  gone  further  seems  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  general  meetings  of  the  tribe  are  only  on  such  great 
occasions  as  the  Engwura.^ 


^  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Aus- 
tralia, 278;  cf.  119. 

^  Ibid. J  280;  cf.  211. 

^  Among  the  Warramunga,  a  tribe 
recently  studied  by  Messrs.  Spencer 
and  Gillen,  there  is  nothing  corre- 
sponding to  the  Engwura  rite.  The 


dramatic  performances  which,  how- 
ever, closely  parallel  those  presented 
at  the  Engwura  are  in  this  tribe 
regarded  as  the  property,  not  of  an 
individual,  but  of  the  whole  totem 
group  {Northern  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  193).    Decay  of  clan  to- 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES 


143 


Further  evidence  of  the  breakdown  of  the  totemic  clan 
among  the  Arunta  is  to  be  found  in  the  use  of  the  various 
totem  groups,  not  only  for  presenting  dramatic  performances, 
but  also  for  magical  purposes.  An  Arunta  totem  is  a  cor- 
poration working  magic  for  the  benefit  of  the  plant  or  animal 
which  gives  its  name  to  the  totem.  With  the  Arunta  each 
totem  has  its  own  magical  ceremony  and  the  ceremonies 
associated  with  it  vary  considerably  from  totem  to  totem. 
Any  man  who  is  a  member  of  the  totem  group  may  attend 
and  participate  in  the  ceremonies  of  his  totem,  but  this  privi- 
lege is  not  extended  to  men  outside  of  the  totem. ^  Women, 
children,  and  uninitiated  men  are  of  course  debarred.  These 
Intichiuma  ceremonies,  as  they  are  called,  while  secret  and 
confined  to  the  particular  totem  groups,  are  not  performed, 
like  those  of  the  Engwura^  at  a  great  meeting  of  all  the 
tribes  for  initiation  purposes.  They  are  held  usually  at 
the  approach  of  a  good  season.  ''The  Intichiuma  are 
closely  associated  with  the  breeding  of  the  animals  and  the 
flowering  of  the  plants  with  which  each  totem  is  respectively 
identified,  and  as  the  object  of  the  ceremony  is  to  increase 
the  number  of  the  totemic  animal  or  plant,  it  is  most  naturally 
held  at  a  certain  season.  .  .  .  While  this  is  so,  it  some- 
times happens  that  the  members  of  a  totem,  such  as,  for 
example,  the  rain  or  water  totem,  will  hold  their  Intichiuma 
when  there  has  been  a  long  draught  and  water  is  badly 
wanted.  .  .  ^  Though  there  is  considerable  variation 
in  the  actual  performances  of  the  totems,  ''one  and  all  have 
for  their  sole  object  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  number  of 
the  animal  or  plant  after  which  the  totem  is  called;  and 
thus,  taking  the  tribe  as  a  whole,  the  object  of  these  cere- 
monies is  that  of  increasing  the  total  food  supply."  ^ 


temism  has  apparently  not  yet  set 
in. 

^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  op.  cit.,  169. 
^  Ihid.,  169-170. 

^Australian  totemism,  in  fact,  as 
Mr.  Frazer  has  recently  pointed  out, 
seems  to  be,  in  view  of  the  late  dis- 
coveries of  Messrs.  Spencer  and 
Gillen,  largely  an  economic  insti- 


tution, designed  to  secure  through 
magical  practices  an  abundance  of 
food,  water,  and  other  necessities 
of  the  tribe.  The  Australian  evi- 
dence leads  Mr.  Frazer  to  suggest 
that  the  primary  purpose  of  totemism 
is  ^'the  thoroughly  practical  one  of 
satisfying  the  material  wants  of  the 
savage,  this  purpose  being  carried 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Some  of  the  initiatory  rites  as  practised  at  Torres  Straits 
betray  the  underlying  clan  organization,  even  more  clearly 
than  the  Australian  Bora  or  Engwura,  At  Tud  (Tutu), 
the  Taiokwody  or  place  of  initiation,  which  corresponds 
closely  to  the  Bora  ground  of  the  Australian  natives,  was 
covered  by  four  large  mats,  and  four  fireplaces  were  arranged 
at  the  sides  of  the  area.  Mats  and  fireplaces  belonged  to 
the  four  separate  clans  which  took  part  in  the  initiation. 
The  crocodile  and  shark  clans  were  'Mike  brothers''  and 
so  had  their  fireplaces  near  together.  ''The  elder  men  sat 
on  the  mats  belonging  to  their  respective  clans.  If  a  man 
sat  by  the  fire  or  upon  the  mat  of  a  clan  other  than  his  own, 


out  by  distributing  the  various 
functions  to  be  discharged  among 
different  groups,  who  thereby  become 
totem  clans.  On  this  hypothesis 
totemism  is  of  high  interest  to  the 
economist,  since  it  furnishes,  perhaps, 
the  oldest  example  of  a  systematic 
division  of  labour  among  the  members 
of  a  community"  {Rep.  Austr.  Adv. 
Sci.,  viii,  Melbourne,  1901,  313). 
In  its  origin  totemism  was  '^simply 
an  organised  and  co-operative  system 
of  magic  devised  to  secure  for  the 
members  of  the  community,  on  the 
one  hand,  a  plentiful  supply  of  all 
the  natural  commodities  of  which 
they  stood  in  need,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  immunity  from  all  the  perils 
and  dangers  to  which  man  is  exposed 
in  his  struggle  with  nature.  Each 
totem  group  was  charged  with  the 
superintendence  and  control  of  the 
particular  department  of  nature  from 
which  it  took  its  name."  (Frazer 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxviii,  1899, 
282). 

On  this  theory  the  relation  between 
totemism  and  exogamy  is  entirely 
secondary  and  derivative;  and  the 
magical  or  religious  aspect  of  totem- 
ism is  more  ancient  than  its  social 
aspect.  Though  such  a  theory  can- 
not be  regarded  as  fully  estabhshed 
at  the  present  time,  it  certainly  points 
to  a  much  greater  importance  to 


totemism  on  the  religious  side  than 
had  ever  before  been  assigned  to  it. 
Mr.  Baldwin  Spencer  points  out  that 
the  Arunta,  Ilpirra,  Narramang, 
and  other  Central  Australian  tribes 
under  the  influence  perhaps  of  a  more 
exacting  economic  environment  have 
developed  the  religious  aspect  almost 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  social  aspect; 
for  the  marriage  system  is  not  regu- 
lated by  totemic  rules.  The  tribes 
of  the  southeastern  coast  have  the 
social  side  well  developed;  the  reli- 
gious-magical side  being  of  com- 
paratively httle  importance  {Fort- 
nightly Review,  Ixxi,  1899,  665). 

Evidence  for  the  existence  of 
Intichiuma  or  similar  ceremonies 
in  other  parts  of  Australia  is  steadily 
increasing.  The  Minkani  rites  of 
the  Dieri  are  to  be  associated  with  the 
Arunta  ceremonies  (Howitt,  Native 
Tribes  of  South-East  Australia,  151 
sq.,  798).  Messrs.  Spencer  and  Gillen 
are  now  able  to  report  the  existence 
of  Intichiuma  rites  among  the  Ura- 
bunna,  Kaitish,  Warramunga,  and 
other  central  tribes.  The  coastal 
tribes  along  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria, 
as  the  result  of  a  more  favorable 
economic  environment,  have  but  a 
feeble  development  of  the  Intichi- 
uma ceremonies  {Northern  Tribes  of 
Central  Australia,  23,  193  5^.,  283- 
319)- 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES 


he  was  painted  black,  and  thenceforth  belonged  to  that 
clan/^  ^  At  Muralug,  also,  the  clansmen  assembled  in  the 
Kwody  sat  on  mats  the  property  of  their  respective  clans. ^ 
At  Mer,  the  duties  of  conducting  the  initiation  rites  were 
parcelled  out  among  the  three  clans  composing  the  tribe. 
The  ''Drum-men"  provided  the  music,  the  ''Friends'' 
prepared  the  food,  and  the  "Shark-men"  were  masters 
of  the  ceremonies.^  It  is,  moreover,  highly  significant  of 
this  fundamental  clan  structure  that  in  all  the  western 
islands  of  Torres  Straits,  the  guardian  of  the  novice  at  initia- 
tion is  his  uncle  on  the  maternal  side.^ 

In  several  of  the  islands  of  Torres  Straits  the  amalgama- 
tion of  the  totemic  clans  has  led  to  the  decided  preeminence 
of  one  clan  over  the  others.  Under  such  circumstances, 
probably  frequent  enough  in  the  early  stages  of  social  organ- 
ization, the  rites  of  the  assimilated  clan  or  clans  will  natu- 
rally be  taken  over  and  be  absorbed  in  those  of  the  pre- 
dominant clan.  This  process,  true  of  clan  ceremonies  in 
general,  is  doubtless  true  of  the  clan  initiatory  ceremonies. 
A  glimpse  at  this  process  is  afforded  by  the  gradual  emer- 
gence at  Torres  Straits  of  tribal  gods,  themselves  the  out- 
growth of  totemic  conceptions.  The  particular  totem  of 
a  clan  has  developed  into  a  tribal  deity.  Here  the  chief 
totem  of  each  group  of  kins  is  practically  the  only  one  recog- 
nized; the  various  lesser  totems  are  in  process  of  absorp- 
tion by  two  important  totems.  Each  totem  has  its  distinct 
shrine,  and  the  totem,  instead  of  being  an  entire  species, 
is  visualized  in  the  form  of  a  representative  of  an  individual 
animal,  and  this  image  is  spoken  of  as  the  totem.  Myths 
have  arisen  to  explain  this  transformation.  In  various 
tales  it  is  told  how  a  family  of  brothers,  some  of  them  sharks, 
as  well  as  men,  wandered  from  west  to  east  across  Torres 
Straits.    Two  of  the  brothers,  Sigai  and  Matau,  went  to 


^  Haddon  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xix  (1890),  410.  The  four  clans 
were  Sam  (cassowary),  Umai  (dog), 
Kodal  (crocodile),  and  Baidam 
(shark)  (Haddon  in  Rep.  Camhr. 
Anthrop.  Expedition  to  Torres 
Straits  J  v,  209). 

L 


^  Haddon  in  Rep.  Camhr.  Anthrop, 
Expedition  to  Torres  Straits,  v,  216. 

^  Id.,  Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr., 
vi  (1893),  141. 

^  Rivers  in  Rep.  Camhr.  Anthrop. 
Expedition  to  Torres  Straits,  v,  147; 
Haddon,  ibid.,  208-210,  215. 


146         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Yam,  and  here  each  became  associated  in  his  animal  forms 
with  one  of  the  two  phratries,  or  groups  of  kins,  on  the  island. 
The  shrines  in  the  Kwod  where  the  totem  images  are  kept, 
are  so  sacred  that  no  women  may  visit  them,  nor  do  the 
women  know  what  the  totems  are  Hke.  They  are  aware 
of  Sigai  and  Maiauy  but  they  do  not  know  that  the  former 
is  the  hammer-headed  shark  and  the  latter  the  crocodile. 
This  mystery  also  is  too  sacred  to  be  imparted  to  the  uniniti- 
ated men.  When  the  totems  are  addressed,  it  is  always 
by  their  hero  names  and  not  by  their  animal  or  totem  names. 
Thus  in  Yam,  totemism  is  seen  in  its  development  into  a 
hero  cult.^  In  Murray  Island  this  process  of  development 
is  completed.  One  totem-divinity  has  replaced  all  the 
others.  At  the  great  tribal  ceremonies  of  initiation,  much 
instruction  is  given  to  the  boys  as  to  the  nature  of  Maluy 
who  though  identical  with  the  hammer-headed  shark  is 
now  the  tribal  deity. ^  In  much  the  same  way,  we  may 
suppose,  the  initiatory  rites  of  a  predominant  clan  may 
become  also  the  rites  of  a  group  of  clans  which  benevolently, 
or  otherwise,  have  been  assimilated  with  it. 

In  the  Melanesian  Islands  where  the  secret  societies  are 
both  numerous  and  powerful,  totemism  as  a  form  of  social 
grouping  is  clearly  in  a  degenerate  stage,  and  in  the  Solo- 
mon Islands  appears  to  be  entirely  absent.^  The  growth 
of  the  secret  societies  has  everywhere  contributed  to  the 
decline  of  totemism,  both  as  a  social  and  as  a  religious 
institution.^ 

African  totemism  has  never  been  carefully  studied.  Al- 
though there  is  good  evidence  for  its  existence  over  a  con- 
siderable area,  yet  its  connection  with  the  secret  societies 
has  been  entirely  ignored.  In  Africa,  as  in  Melanesia, 
the  number  and  importance  of  these  societies  appear  to 


^  Haddon  in  Rep.  Brit.  Assoc.  Adv. 
ScLj  Ixxii  (London,  1902),  749-751. 
For  the  myth  in  full,  see  Haddon  in 
Rep.  Camhr.  Anthrop.  Expedition  to 
Torres  Straits,  v,  64  sq. 

^  Haddon,  loc.  cit. 

^  Banks  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 


xviii  (1889),  281  sq.;  Codrington, 
Melanesians,  ^1  sq.  Woodford,  how- 
ever, asserts  its  existence  in  Guadal- 
canar  {A  Naturalist  among  the  Head- 
Hunters,  40  sq.). 

^  Haddon,  in  Rep.  Brit.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.y  Ixxii  (London,  1902),  750. 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES 


have  contributed  to  the  thorough  disintegration  of  the  earHer 
totemism.^ 

A  study  of  the  fraternities  found  among  North  American 
Indians  will  exhibit  in  the  clearest  fashion  their  aspects  as 
magical  and  dramatic  corporations  and  their  connection 
with  an  underlying  clan  organization.  The  gradual  develop- 
ment of  clan  rites  into  fraternity  rites  may  be  observed 
in  different  parts  of  North  America,  in  at  least  three  dis- 
tinct stages.  Among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest, 
the  clan  organization,  while  still  retained,  is  in  process  of 
decay,  and  the  peculiar  secret  societies  found  among  the 
Kwakiutl  and  other  tribes  of  British  Columbia  are  coming 
into  existence.^  Among  the  Indians  of  the  Central  Plains, 
the  totemic  organization  has  in  some  measure  kept  its  place 
alongside  the  secret  societies,^  but  included  in  the  latter 
are  members  from  all  the  different  clans.  Such  organiza- 
tions represent  what  appears  to  be  a  transitional  stage 
between  the  societies  found  in  the  northern  and  southern 
portions  of  the  continent.  Among  the  tribes  of  the  South- 
west, on  the  other  hand,  the  totemic  clans  have  entirely 
broken  down,  and  in  their  place  have  arisen  the  numerous 
fraternities  found,  for  example,  among  the  Zuni  and  Hopi 
Indians. 

The  social  organization  of  the  North  Pacific  tribes  is 
by  no  means  uniform.  The  northern  tribes  continue  to 
reckon  descent  on  the  maternal  side;  the  southern  tribes 


^  On  survivals  of  totemism  in 
Africa,  see  J.  G.  Frazer,  Totemism 
(Edinburgh,  1887),  92-93.  For  some 
recent  discoveries  of  a  well-organized 
totemic  system  among  the  Baganda, 
west  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  cf. 
Roscoe  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii 
(1902),  27  sq.  Among  the  Bantu 
tribes  of  South  Africa,  totemism  "re- 
solves itself  into  a  particular  species 
of  the  worship  of  the  dead ;  the  totem 
animals  are  revered  as  incarnations 
of  the  souls  of  dead  ancestors" 
(Frazer  in  Man,  i,  1901,  136). 

^  Among  the  Eskimo  of  Alaska, 
from  Kuskokwim  River  northwards 


to  the  shores  of  Bering  Straits  and 
Kotzebue  Sound,  a  totemic  system, 
previously  unknown,  has  been  re- 
cently discovered.  But  here,  as 
among  the  Indians  to  the  south,  it 
is  in  a  decadent  stage  (Nelson  in 
Eighteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer. 
Ethnol.,  322). 

^  The  clan  system  is  not  found 
among  the  Kiowa,  Cheyenne,  Plains 
Sioux,  the  Athapascan  tribes  of 
British  America,  and  the  tribes 
of  the  Columbia  River  region, 
Oregon,  and  CaHfornia  (Mooney  in 
Seventeenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer. 
EthnoLj  227). 


148         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


have  now  established  paternal  descent.  The  Kwakiutl 
tribes  of  the  centre  appear  to  be  in  a  pecuHar  transitional 
stage.  Five  of  the  northern  tribes  have  animal  totems; 
the  latter  are  not  found  among  the  Kw^akiutl,  though  this 
tribe  belongs  to  the  same  linguistic  stock  as  the  Heiltsuq, 
which  is  totemistic.  These  northern  tribes,  moreover,  are 
divided  into  clans  which  bear  the  names  of  their  respective 
totems  and  are  exogamous.^  The  Kwakiutl,  divided  into 
many  tribes,  are  also  subdivided  into  clans,  each  of  which 
derives  its  origin  from  a  mythical  ancestor.  The  clans 
appear  to  have  been,  originally,  scattered  village  communities 
which  by  combination,  chiefly  for  purposes  of  defence, 
became  divisions  of  the  newly  formed  tribe.  But  each 
community  retained  its  clan  traditions  and  privileges  founded 
upon  the  acquisition  of  a  manitou^  or  personal  guardian 
spirit,  by  the  mythical  ancestor  of  the  clan.  With  each 
clan  is  associated  a  certain  rank  and  station  in  the  tribe, 
and  the  members  of  each  clan  are  accorded  certain  privi- 
leges based  on  their  descent  from  the  clan  ancestor.^  These 
privileges  acquired  by  descent,  or  transmitted  by  marriage, 
refer  mainly  to  the  use  of  certain  crests  and  to  the  per- 
formance of  certain  semi-religious  songs  and  dances.  The 
ancestor  of  each  separate  clan  is  supposed,  at  a  time  which 
corresponds  very  well  with  the  Arunta  Alcheringay  to  have 
acquired  a  manitou^  or  guardian  spirit.  The  manitoii  so 
acquired,  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  of 
the  clansmen,  in  process  of  time  has  been  attenuated  into 
nothing  more  than  a  totem  symbol;  in  other  words,  the 
tutelary  genius  of  the  clan  has  degenerated  into  a  mere 
crest. ^  So  far  has  the  crest  degenerated,  that  it  is  now 
impossible  to  draw  a  sharp  line  between  the  pure  crest  and 
figures  of  masks  illustrating  certain  incidents  in  the  legen- 
dary history  of  the  clan.  Such  crests,  moreover,  are  now 
largely  confined  to  particular  families  of  the  clan.  The 
more  general  the  use  of  the  crest  in  the  whole  clan,  the 


*  Boas,  '*The  Social  Organization 
and  the  Secret  Societies  of  the  Kwa- 
kiutl Indians/'  Rep.  U.  S.  National 
Museum  for  i8gj,  322-323. 


^  Boas,  op.  cit.y  328  sq. 
3  Ibid.,  336. 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES 


remoter  is  the  time  to  which  the  clan  legends  recounting  the 
acquisition  of  the  crest  must  be  ascribed.  Among  the  Kwa- 
kiutl  the  totem  of  the  clan  has  become  in  fact  the  hereditary 
manitouj  or  guardian  spirit,  of  a  family.  But  in  addition  to 
the  legends  which  refer  to  the  early  history  of  the  clan,  and 
embody  the  various  beliefs  in  supernatural  beings  who 
appeared  to  the  clan  ancestors,  and  gave  the  latter  the 
manitous  which  have  now  become  the  crests,  there  is  another 
set  of  legends  which  relate  ''entirely  to  spirits  that  are  still 
in  constant  contact  with  the  Indians,  whom  they  endow 
with  supernatural  powers.  In  order  to  gain  their  help  the 
youth  must  prepare  himself  by  fasting  and  washing,  because 
only  the  pure  find  favor  with  them,  while  they  kill  the 
impure.  Every  young  man  endeavors  to  find  a  protector 
of  this  kind."  ^  These  spirits  likewise  first  appeared  to 
the  ancestors  of  the  clans,  and  the  same  spirits,  it  is  believed, 
still  continue  to  appear  to  the  descendants  of  these  mythical 
ancestors.  The  proteges  of  the  spirits  personate  them  in 
their  dances,  and  wear  masks  which  represent  them.  Many 
of  the  clan  ancestors,  when  they  acquired  their  manitous 
from  the  spirits,  received  other  privileges,  such  as  that  of 
performing  certain  dances,  of  singing  certain  songs,  or  of 
eating  human  flesh.  These  privileges,  inheritable  and 
transmissible  by  marriage,  like  the  possession  of  a  crest, 
have  become  the  basis  of  numerous  secret  societies,  and  the 
latter  alone  are  in  possession  of  them.  Each  individual 
who  by  descent  or  marriage  is  entitled  to  membership  in 
one  of  the  secret  societies,  must  first  be  initiated  by  its  pre- 
siding spirit  before  he  is  allowed  to  join  and  to  present  the 
dances  and  songs  associated  with  membership  in  the  so- 
ciety.^ The  secret  societies  belong,  however,  only  to  the 
nobility.  There  are  among  the  Kwakiutl  a  certain  limited 
number  of  noble  families,  descendants  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  earlier  clans.  The  ancestor  of  each  family  had 
a  tradition  of  his  own  aside  from  the  general  clan  tradition, 
but,  like  the  latter,  the  tradition  was  concerned  usually  with 
the  acquisition  of  a  manitou  from  the  spirits.    The  crests 


*  Boas,  op.  cit.,  393;  cf.  371  sq. 


2  Ihid.,  337. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


and  privileges  thus  secured'  by  the  ancestor  of  each  noble 
family  are  transmitted  to  his  direct  descendants  in  the 
male  line,  or  through  the  marriage  of  the  daughter  of  such 
a  male  descendant,  to  his  son-in-law  and  through  the  latter 
to  his  male  grandchildren.  Only  one  man  at  a  time  may 
personate  the  ancestor  and  enjoy  his  rank  and  privileges. 
Such  men  form  the  nobility  of  the  tribe. ^  Each  member 
of  the  nobility  has,  moreover,  his  special  name  given  him 
by  his  hereditary  spirit.  During  the  winter  ceremonials  of 
the  Kwakiutl,  when  the  spirits  are  supposed  to  dwell  among 
the  Indians,  these  names  come  into  general  use;  the  ordi- 
nary clan  structure  breaks  down  and  the  Indians  belonging 
to  the  nobility  are  grouped  according  to  the  spirits  who 
initiated  them.^  Subdivisions  of  these  groups,  according 
to  the  different  ceremonies  or  dances  bestowed  upon  the 
individual  —  for  the  initiating  spirit  endowed  his  proteges 
with  varying  powers  —  constitute  the  secret  societies.  Such 
societies  are  naturally  limited  in  numbers,  for  the  members 
are  the  descendants  of  ancestors  to  whom  particular  powers 
were  revealed  by  the  spirits,  and  of  the  latter  there  is  only 
a  limited  number.  But  such  a  membership  will  not  be 
limited  to  one  clan,  for  the  same  spirit  appeared  to  the  ances- 
tors of  the  various  clans. ^  The  gifts  of  the  spirits  are  always 
related  in  the  legends  which  describe  the  clan  ancestor. 
Such  gifts  are  usually  a  dance,  song,  and  certain  peculiar 
cries.  The  dancer  is  thus  a  protege  of  the  spirit  who  has 
endowed  him  with  the  dance.  This  spirit  is  personated 
in  the  dance  performances.^  A  man  may  become  a  mem- 
ber of  any  society  by  inheritance  or  by  marriage,  most 
frequently  by  the  latter  means.  This  right  of  membership, 
gained  by  inheritance  or  by  marriage,  may,  however,  be 
exercised  only  after  the  public  adoption  of  a  crest  by  the 
intending  candidate.  The  guardian  spirit  with  which  the 
lad  is  supposed  to  have  communion  during  his  initiatory 
seclusion  is  always  the  presiding  spirit  of  the  society  to  which 
he  seeks  entrance.    The  object  of  the  great  winter  cere- 


^  Boas,  op.  cit.j  338. 
2  Ibid.,  418. 


^  Ibid.,  418  sq. 
*  Ibid.,  396. 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  151 

monials  is,  therefore,  the  initiation  of  the  young  men  who  are 
ehgible  for  membership  in  the  societies.  The  novices  go 
out  in  the  woods  and  are  supposed  to  remain  with  the  super- 
natural being  who  is  the  guardian  genius  of  the  society. 
After  a  period  of  seclusion  they  come  back  in  a  state  of 
ecstasy  and  madness.  The  initiated  members  by  songs 
and  dances  endeavor  to  exorcise  the  spirit  which  is  believed 
to  have  entered  the  novices  and  to  consume  them.^  These 
Kwakiutl  ceremonials,  corresponding  closely  in  their  simu- 
lation of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  novices  to  initia- 
tory rites  already  described,  constitute,  in  fact,  an  interesting 
North  American  variant  of  the  widespread  puberty  ordeal. 
It  is  of  much  consequence  also  that  while  the  right  of  belong- 
ing to  a  secret  society  could  be  gained  in  this  way,  there 
was  one  restriction:  ''The  person  who  is  to  acquire  it  must 
be  declared  worthy  by  the  tribe  assembled  in  council."  ^ 

The  significance  of  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  Kwakiutl 
societies  appears  then  to  consist,  partly  in  its  exhibition  of 
the  original  clan  structure  of  the  tribe  in  process  of  develop- 
ment into  the  secret  society  form  of  organization,  and, 
partly  in  showing  how,  on  the  basis  of  the  revelations  given 
to  the  novices  at  puberty  by  the  spirits,  secret  societies 
including  men  of  various  clans  may  arise.  Of  this  latter 
process,  the  Kwakiutl  evidence  is  significant  only  for  what 
may  be  regarded  as  the  formative  stage.  For  the  manitou 
of  the  Kwakiutl  lad  is  hereditary.  ''When  the  youth  pre- 
pares to  meet  a  guardian  spirit,  he  does  not  expect  to  find 
any  but  those  of  his  clan."  ^  The  secret  societies,  moreover, 
are  small  bodies  consisting  of  all  those  individuals  upon 
whom  the  same  or  almost  the  same  power  or  secret  has  been 
bestowed  by  one  of  the  spirits.^  Since  the  members  each 
derive  their  membership  from  the  initiation  of  one  of  the 
ancestors  of  th^  nobility,  and  since  these  ancestors  have 
only  one  representative  at  a  time,  it  follows  that  a  new  mem- 
ber of  the  society  can  be  admitted  only  when  another  one 
is  dropped.^    We  have,  in  other  words,  small  secret  associa- 

^  Boas,  op.  cit.j  431.  ^  Boas  in  Rep.   U.  S.  National 

^  Boas  in  Rep.  Brit.  Assoc.  Adv.      Museum  for  iS^Sj  393- 
Scl,  lix  (London,  1889),  830.  ^  Ibid.j  418.  ^  Ibid.^  419. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


tions  very  similar  to  those  which  seem  in  process  of  forma- 
tion out  of  the  local  totemic  groups  of  the  Central  Australians. 
The  Quabaray  or  dramatic  performances,  belonging  to  the 
latter,  are  connected,  it  will  be  remembered,  usually  with 
one  particular  member  of  the  totemic  group.  He  alone 
has  the  privilege  of  performing  it,  and  only  men  of  the  par- 
ticular totem  concerned  may  be  present  at  the  performance.^ 
This  rule,  already  breaking  down  among  the  Arunta,  has 
broken  down  among  the  Kwakiutl  so  far  as  to  open  mem- 
bership in  the  societies  to  others  than  the  members  of  the 
original  clan  concerned.  The  process  of  clan  consolida- 
tion has  not  proceeded  far  enough  to  bring  about  the  amal- 
gamation of  the  numerous  small  societies  into  larger  organi- 
zations. But  amalgamation  has  begun.  All  the  societies 
are  arranged  in  two  great  groups,  the  "Seals''  and  the 
Quequtsa.  Most  of  the  subdivisions  of  the  Quequtsa  bear 
animal  names,  as  those  of  the  ''Seals''  bear  the  names  of 
spirits.  The  legends  relate  that  the  Quequtsa  ceremonies 
were  instituted  when  men  had  still  the  form  of  animals. 
The  ceremonies  constitute,  in  fact,  a  dramatization  of  the 
clan  myths,  similar  in  essentials  to  the  Quabara  presented 
at  the  Engwura  rites  of  the  Arunta.  As  these  Quequtsa 
dancers  represent  what  were  once  the  totemic  animals  of 
the  clans,  it  follows  that  the  dancers  of  the  ''Seals,"  who 
personate  spirits  and  are  thought  of  as  superior  to  the  Que- 
qutsa performers,^  represent  a  peculiar  development  of 
the  widespread  belief  among  North  American  tribes  in 
the  manitouy  or  guardian  spirit.  In  the  fraternities  of  the 
Central  West,  we  shall  find  another  interesting  phase  of 
this  conception. 

Among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Central  West,  the  clan 
system  is  in  a  state  of  pronounced  decay,  and  in  its  place 
have  arisen  numerous  secret  societies.  Wfcere  the  political 
structure  of  the  clan  is  weakest,  the  secret  societies  are 
most  powerful.  Admission  to  these  societies  rests  upon  the 
acquisition  by  every  boy  at  puberty  of  a  personal  guardian 
spirit  (manitouy  or  "individual  totem")  the  same  as  that  of 
the  secret  society  to  which  he  claims  entrance.    The  manitou 

^  Supra,  142.  ^  Boas  in  Rep.   U.  S.  National 

Museum  for  7^95,  419. 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  153 

is  no  longer  inheritable  and  is  not,  as  among  the  Kwakiutl, 
confined  to  the  clan.  In  the  Omaha  societies,  for  example, 
membership  "depends  upon  supernatural  indications  over 
which  the  individual  has  no  control.  The  animal  v^hich 
appears  to  a  man  in  a  vision  during  his  religious  fasting 
determines  to  w^hich  society  he  must  belong.''  ^  Entrance 
to  the  society  so  designated  does  not,  hov^ever,  follow  im- 
mediately upon  the  vision;  the  youth  must  first  accumulate 
enough  property  for  the  feast  and  for  the  necessary  gifts  to 
those  already  members.^  Such  societies  are  in  this  way 
made  up  of  members  from  every  kinship  group  in  the  tribe. 
Blood  relationship  is  ignored,  "the  bond  of  union  being 
a  common  right  in  a  common  vision.  These  brotherhoods 
gradually  developed  a  classified  membership  with  initiatory 
rites,  rituals,  and  officials  set  apart  to  conduct  the  cere- 
monials." ^  The  vision,  arising  through  a  long  ordeal  of 
fasting  and  seclusion,  has  thus  become,  among  the  American 
Indians,  the  regular  puberty  ordeal.  Remote  from  human 
habitation  and  under  conditions  of  utter  loneliness,  of 
prolonged  fasting,  of  intense  concentration  upon  one  idea, 
the  Indian  lad  is  thrown  into  that  condition  of  spiritual 
exaltation  and  receptiveness  which  has  been  already 
noted  as  one  common  characteristic  of  puberty  rites. ^ 


^  Miss  Fletcher  in  Sixteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Peahody  Museum  (Cambridge, 
1884),  277. 

2  Ihid.,  282. 

^  Miss  Fletcher  in  Ann.  Rep.  Smith- 
sonian Institution  for  iSgy  (Washing- 
ton, 1898),  582;  of.  Peet  in  Amer. 
Antiquarian,  xix  (1897),  195  sq. 

^  For  further  descriptions  of  the 
process  whereby  an  Indian  lad  ob- 
tains his  guardian  spirit,  see  George 
Catlin,  Letters  and  Notes  on  the 
Manners,  Customs,  and  Condition 
of  the  North  American  Indians 
(London,  1841),  i,  36-38;  J.  G. 
Kohl,  Kitchi-Gami  (London,  i860), 
228-242;  Miss  Fletcher  in  Proc. 
Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  xlv  (1896), 
197;  Teit  in  Mem.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat. 
Hist.,  ii  (1900),  320  ^5^. 


In  Australia  the  conception  of  the 
'individual  totem"  seems  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  medicine-man  (Thomas 
in  Man,  ii,  1902,  117).  Among 
some  Queensland  tribes,  however, 
there  is  an  interesting  custom  which, 
as  Mr.  Haddon  suggests,  resembles 
the  manitou  practices  of  the  North 
American  Indians.  In  the  initiation 
ceremonies  of  the  Yaraikanna  tribe, 
after  suffering  the  loss  of  a  tooth,  the 
lad  is  given  some  water  in  which  he 
rinses  his  mouth,  afterwards  letting 
the  gory  spittle  fall  gently  into  a  leaf 
water-basket.  ''The  old  men  care- 
fully inspect  the  form  assumed  by 
the  clot,  and  trace  some  likeness  to  a 
natural  object,  plant,  or  stone;  this 
will  be  the  ari  of  the  newly  made 
man'^  (Head-Hunters,  193;  cf.  id.,, 


154         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

Fraternities  formed  in  this  manner  by  the  inclusion  of 
members  from  all  the  different  clans  composing  the  tribe, 
are  to  be  found  among  many  of  the  Plains  Indians.  The 
Ojibwa  had  one  great  '^medicine-society/'  the  Midewiwin. 
While  membership  might  be  gained  in  other  ways,  it  was 
customary  for  a  lad  who  in  his  puberty  vision  had  beheld 


Rep.  Brit.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Ixix, 
1899,  585).  Mr.  Haddon  could 
find  no  trace  of  the  manitou  con- 
ception in  either  New  Guinea  or 
Torres  Straits  {Folk- Lore,  xii,  1901, 
231).  The  ''medicine"  which  boys 
of  the  Yaunde  of  West  Africa  receive 
at  initiation  to  guard  them  henceforth 
against  sickness  and  all  misfortunesj 
has  much  the  same  purpose  as  the 
manitou  or  ari  (Zenker  in  Mitth.  v. 
Forschungsreisenden  und  Gelehrten  aus 
den  Deutschen  Schutzgehieten,  viii, 
Berlin,  1895,  53).  The  purpose  of 
the  African  fetish,  in  fact,  closely 
resembles  that  of  the  guardian  spirit 
of  the  Indian  lads.  Mr.  Frazer  has 
given  many  illustrations  of  the 
widespread  belief  in  ''bush-souls," 
naguals,  manitous,  and  similar  con- 
ceptions {The  Golden  Bough,  iii, 
London,  1900,  406  sq.). 

Several  careful  students  have 
recently  argued  that  the  clan  totem 
is  a  development  of  the  personal 
totem  or  manitou;  in  the  acquisition 
of  a  manitou  —  afterwards  trans- 
mitted by  inheritance  —  would  be 
the  origin  both  of  the  secret  societies 
and  of  the  clans.  "The  close  sim- 
ilarity," writes  Dr.  Boas,  of  the 
Kwakiutl,  "between  the  clan  legends 
and  those  of  the  acquisition  of  spirits 
presiding  over  secret  societies,  as  well 
as  the  intimate  relation  between  these 
and  the  social  organizations  of  the 
tribes,  allow  us  to  apply  the  same 
argument  to  the  consideration  of  the 
growth  of  the  secret  societies,  and 
lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  same  psychological  factor  that 
moulded  the  clans  into  their  present 


shape  moulded  the  secret  societies" 
{Rep.  U.  S.  Nat.  Museum  for  i8g^, 
662).  Mr.  Hill-Tout  has  also  re- 
cently adduced  similar  considera- 
tions based  on  studies  of  the  British 
Columbia  tribes  {Proc.  and  Trans. 
Roy.  Soc.  Canada,  second  series,  vii 
(1901),  section  ii,  3-15;  ihid.,  ix 
(1903);  section  ii,  61-99).  Miss 
Fletcher,  from  a  study  of  the  Omaha 
conditions,  concludes  that  the  in- 
fluence of  the  training  in  methods  of 
social  organization  received  in  the 
secret  societies  "is  traceable  in  the 
structure  of  the  gens,  where  the  sign 
of  a  vision,  the  totem,  became  the 
symbol  of  a  bond  between  the  people, 
augmenting  the  natural  tie  of  blood 
relationship  in  an  exogamous  group" 
{Ann.  Rep.  Smithsonian  Institution 
for  i8gy,  Washington,  1898,  584). 
The  theory  here  set  forth  agrees, 
however,  with  the  conclusions  ad- 
vanced by  Mr.  Hartland  {Folk-Lore, 
xi,  1900,  68)  and  Mr.  Haddon  {Rep. 
Brit.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Ixxii,  1902, 
742),  who  both  regard  the  man- 
itou conception  as  of  more  modern 
date  than  that  of  the  clan  totem  and 
as  "part  of  the  individualism  which 
is  tending  to  obscure  the  older  com- 
munistic traditions."  Just  why  the 
manitou  conception  should  have  so 
developed  is  still  to  be  explained. 
The  advantages  to  the  individual 
of  the  belief  in  a  personal  guiding 
spirit  are  so  great  that  perhaps  this 
reason  may  suffice  as  an  explanation 
of  its  substitution  for  totemism,  the 
benefits  of  which  are  tribal  and  not 
individual  {cf.  Haddon  in  Rep.  Brit. 
Assoc,  Adv.  Sci.,  Ixxii,  1902,  743). 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  155 

some  powerful  manido^  or  other  object  held  in  reverence  by 
the  society,  to  regard  this  as  a  sign  that  he  should  apply 
for  membership/  The  mythic  origin  of  the  Mita- 

wity  or  Grand  Medicine  Lodge  of  Menomini  Indians,  throws 
light  on  the  relationship  of  the  society  to  the  totemic  clans. 
According  to  the  legends,  after  the  totem  clans  had  united 
into  an  organized  body  for  mutual  benefit,  they  were  still 
without  the  means  of  providing  themselves  with  food, 
medicinal  plants,  and  the  power  to  ward  off  disease  and 
death.  When  Masha  Manidoy  the  "Good  Mystery"  who 
had  created  the  numerous  manidosj  or  spirits,  giving  them 
the  forms  of  animals  and  birds  and  afterwards  changing 
these  forms  into  those  of  men,  looked  down  upon  his  people 
on  the  earth,  and  saw  them  afflicted  with  numerous  diseases, 
he  decided  to  provide  them  with  the  means  of  bettering 
their  evil  state.  So  Manabush,  one  of  his  companion 
"mysteries,"  was  sent  to  men  to  teach  them  the  various 
healing  arts,  and  to  secure  this  purpose,  he  instituted  the 
great  society  of  the  Mttawit,  Candidates  admitted  to  the 
Medicine  Lodge  were  duly  instructed  in  this  tradition  of 
its  origin.^  The  Omahas  had  the  order  of  Thunder 

Shamans,  composed  of  "those  who  have  had  dreams  or 
visions,  in  which  they  have  seen  the  Thunder-being,  the 
Sun,  the  Moon,  or  some  other  superterrestrial  objects  or 
phenomena."^  Other  Omaha  societies  were  those  whose 
members  claimed  to  have  supernatural  communications  with 
buffaloes,  horses,  and  grizzly  bears.  In  their  dances  the 
actions  of  these  animals  were  imitated.^ 

The  fraternities  of  the  Arizona  and  New  Mexico  Indians 
are  especially  interesting,  not  only  because  they  exhibit  in 
the  clearest  fashion  their  close  relationship  to  the  primitive 
clan  structure,  but  also  because  among  these  Indians  the 
secret  orders  have  assumed  an  even  more  important  place 
in  the  religious  life  of  the  tribe  than  among  the  natives  of 


^  Hoffman  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  163. 

^  Ibid.,  42-43.  The  Ojibwa  leg- 
end of  the  origin  of  the  Midewiwin 
is  very  similar. 


^  Dorsey  in  Eleventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.  J  395. 

^  Ibid. J  497-498.  For  various 
other  examples,  see  392  sq.;  428  sq. 


156         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


the  plains.  The  Omaha  societies,  according  to  Miss 
Fletcher,  are  small  private  circles  within  the  great  religious 
circle  of  the  tribe.  When  the  annual  religious  festivals  are 
held,  all  persons  must  take  part,  and  as  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  learn,  none  of  these  religious  societies  at  that  time 
take  any  precedence,  or  as  societies  perform  especial  religious 
services.''  ^  But  among  the  Hopi,  Zuni,  and  some  other 
tribes,^  certain  fraternities  have  grown  to  a  position  of 
commanding  importance  and  are  intrusted  with  the  great 
religious  rites  of  the  tribe.  The  settled  community  life  of 
these  Hopi  and  Zuni  villagers  has  led  to  a  most  complicated 
religious  ritual  now  embodied  in  the  rites  of  the  secret 
societies. 

The  Hopi  Indians  of  Arizona,  forming  what  is  known  as 
the  Tusayan  confederacy,  are  descendants  of  once  widely 
scattered  clans,  some  of  which  probably  came  from  the 
Gila  Valley.  As  successive  clans  settled  in  the  pueblos,  they 
intermarried  with  the  previous  clans,  this  process  con- 
tinuing until  members  of  all  the  various  clans  were  to  be 
found  in  the  seven  pueblos.  From  the  amalgamation  of 
the  various  clans,  fraternities  have  arisen,  in  the  rites  and 
ritual  of  which  the  clan  origin  of  these  organizations  is 
clearly  evident.  The  clan  worship  was  formerly  that  of 
the  ancestors  of  the  clan,  and  this  worship  has  survived  in 
the  fraternities.^  Some  preliminary  evidence  for  this  course 
of  development  is  furnished  by  the  kinship  ideas  which  still 
survive  in  the  societies.    The  chief  of  a  Hopi   society  is 


^  Sixteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Peahody 
Museum,  294  n. 

^  In  Sia,  formerly  an  important 
Indian  settlement  in  western  New 
Mexico,  there  are  eight  secret  societies 
now  rapidly  falling  into  decay.  Each 
society  is  controlled  by  a  particular 
theurgist.  Their  relation  to  the 
earlier  clans  is  very  obscure,  but  Mrs. 
Stevenson  notes  that  most  of  the 
societies  are  named  after  animals. 
In  Sia  there  are  now  eight  clans; 
fifteen  more  have  become  extinct. 
By  the  tribal  legend  the  societies  were 


originated  in  the  lower  world  by 
Utsetj  a  mediatorial  god  who  recalls 
the  Minahozho  of  the  Ojibwa.  When 
afterwards  instituted  on  earth,  the 
societies  were  named  for  the  animals, 
cougar,  bear,  snake,  etc.,  who  first 
composed  them  (Mrs.  Stevenson  in 
Eleventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  EthnoL, 
16  sq.,  69  sq.).  In  the  Snake  Society 
of  the  Sia,  membership  depends  upon 
a  common  dream,  the  seeing  of 
snakes  {ibid.,  86). 

^  Fewkes  in  Nineteenth  Ann,  Rep. 
Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.,  1006. 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  157 

called  the  father,  ''and  the  members  of  the  brotherhood 
call  one  another  brothers  and  sisters/'  ^  The  survival  in 
the  fraternity  rites  of  objects  formerly  associated  with  the 
clans  provides  additional  confirmation.  Each  Hopi  clan 
possesses  one  or  more  ancient  objects  or  Wimi,  These  are 
held  in  high  reverence,  and  like  the  Australian  Churinga 
have  valuable  magical  pov^ers  in  the  hands  of  the  priests. 
When  the  clans  lived  apart,  the  worship  of  the  fFtmt  W3.s 
limited  to  the  clans  which  owned  them.  On  the  union  of 
the  clans  they  came  into  the  custody  of  the  priests  of  the 
society,  who  were  in  every  case  the  leading  members  of  their 
respective  clans. ^  In  the  same  way,  the  Ttponty  or  badge, 
of  each  religious  society  was  originally  the  palladium  of  the 
clan.  As  the  fraternity  is  made* up  of  several  clans,  there 
are  usually  several  of  these  objects  on  each  altar.  The 
Owakulti  society  of  Sitcomovi  pueblo  has  two  Tiponisy 
one  belonging  to  the  chief  of  the  Butterfly  clan,  and  the  other 
to  the  Pakab  or  Reed  clan.^  In  this  Owakulti  festival 
butterfly  symbols  are  prominent.  Some  of  the  chiefs  who 
perform  the  rites  are  members  of  the  Butterfly  clan.  The 
rites  constitute  an  attempt  by  magical  processes  to  increase 
the  number  of  butterflies.  With  the  latter  comes  summer, 
and  with  summer,  rain  for  the  crops. ^  Evidence  of  the 
most  conclusive  nature  is  aflForded  by  the  survivals  of  the 
original  clan  composition  in  the  rites  and  legends  of  the 
societies.  The  complicated  and  elaborate  Hopi  ritual  in 
charge  of  the  fraternities  at  the  present  day  has  grown 
pari  passu  with  the  successive  additions  of  new  clans  to 
the  pueblos.  All  of  the  great  religious  festivals  celebrated 
by  the  Hopi  Indians  constitute  a  worship  of  the  clan  ances- 


^  Powell  in  Seventeenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Amer.  EthnoL,  xxxiii;  Fewkes, 
op.  cit.,  1007.  Moreover,  the  so- 
called  priests"  of  the  Snake  society, 
for  instance,  seem  to  be  simply  its 
older  members  —  the  clan  elders 
who  on  the  consoHdation  of  the  clans 
would  naturally  have  the  leading 
positions  in  the  societies  which  thus 
arise.    That  the     priests"  are  not 


regarded  as  a  technically  trained  and 
exclusive  class  seems  also  evident 
from  the  custom  of  introducing  boys 
in  their  place  on  the  occasion  of  the 
death  of  these  officials  (Fewkes,  op, 
cit.,  978). 

^  Fewkes  in  Amer.  Anthropologist, 
new  series,  iii  (1901),  211-212. 

^  Ibid.,  214. 

^  Ibid.y  221-222. 


158         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


tors.  One  important  group  of  these  festivals  is  that  of  the 
KatcinaSy  who  are  masked  men  personating  the  ancestors. 
The  present  Katcina  dances  are  modified  survivals  of  clan 
festivals  from  which  the  secret  rites  have  disappeared.^ 
No  one  Katcina  society  is  at  present  limited  to  a  particular 
clan.  Some  of  the  performances  —  in  this  respect  pre- 
senting close  resemblance  to  the  Australian  Quabara  and  to 
the  performances  of  the  Kwakiutl  —  are  now  worn  down 
into  a  single  public  masked  dance. ^  The  Katcina  per- 
sonations are  really  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  a  species  of 
ancestor  worship,  the  ancestors  being  the  totemic  ancients 
of  the  clans.  Such  personations  are  always  limited  to 
representations  of  clan  relations  on  the  mother's  side.^ 
According  to  the  Hopi  conception,  in  the  lower  world  where 
the  ancients  of  the  clan  live,  the  occupations  and  duties  of 
the  inhabitants  are  much  the  same  as  on  earth.  The  de- 
parted clansmen  are  still  intimately  connected  with  their 
survivors  in  the  Hopi  pueblos.  The  dead  retain  their 
membership  in  their  earthly  clans,^  and  still  have  their 
duties  to  perform  among  men.  They  are  personated  so 
that  they  may  know  the  needs  of  their  clans  and  may  exert 
their  powers  to  produce  rain  and  good  crops.  "^You  have 
become  a  Katcina;  bring  us  rain,'  say  the  relatives  of  the 
deceased  to  the  dead,  before  they  inter  them."  ^  Besides 


^  Fewkes  in  Nineteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.^  623. 
^  Ihid.,  630. 

^  As  Mr.  Fewkes  points  out, 
Katcina  worship  is  not  that  of  an 
animal,  plant,  or  other  object  which 
has  given  a  totem  name  or  symbol 
to  a  clan.  The  totemic  animal  which 
the  Hopi  believes  ancestral  is  not 
identified  with  any  living  species. 
The  Arunta  conception  of  the  totemic 
ancestors  is  very  similar  {cf.  Spencer 
and  Gillen,  op.  cit.,  119  sq.).  Among 
the  Arunta  the  myths  invented  to 
account  for  the  existing  relationship 
between  a  totem  clan  and  the  totem 
animal  or  plant  is  that  the  ancestors 
of  the  former  were  transformations  of 


certain  of  the  latter  {Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxviii,  1899,  279). 

^  Fewkes  in  Jour.  Amer.  Folk- 
Lore,  xiv  (1901),  83. 

5  Ihid.,  82.  The  effect  of  the 
economic  environment  upon  the  Hopi 
religious  beliefs  and  practices  is 
clearly  seen  in  these  Katcina  rites. 
At  present  the  Hopi  Indians  are  an 
agricultural  people  living  in  an  arid 
country  where  rain  is  the  great 
necessity.  A  majority  of  all  their 
ceremonies  are  for  rain  and  abundant 
crops.  Even  the  clan  ancestors  who 
were  worshipped  before  the  Hopi 
became  an  agricultural  people,  have 
been  endowed  with  the  new  powers. 
The  Bear,  Buffalo,  and  Antelope 


THE  CLAN  CEREMONIES  159 

the  Hopi  conceptions  of  clan  ancestors  as  KatctnaSy  there 
are  other  conceptions  of  masked  clan  gods,  the  worship  of 
whom  is  the  subject  of  some  important  ceremonies.  These 
are  not  festivals  in  which  masked  men  personating  the 
clan  ancestors  are  present.  The  worship,  however,  is  still 
that  of  the  ancestors.  The  methods  of  personating  the 
ancestors  and  the  symbols  employed  have  changed,  for  the 
clans  of  which  they  are  the  festivals  are  different.^  These 
great  Hopi  festivals  known  as  Lalakonta,  Owakuitt,  Mam- 
zrautiy  and  the  Snake  Dance,  like  the  Katcinasy  are  modes 
of  totemic  ancestor  worship,  '^highly  modified  into  a  rain 
prayer."  ^  The  Snake  Dance  as  given  at  Walpi  pueblo 
offers,  in  particular,  remarkable  parallels  to  the  Katcina 
festivals.  Originally  the  Snake  Dance  was  a  festival  of 
two  or  more  consolidated  clans,  the  Snake  and  Horn.  These 
clans  are  now  represented  in  the  personnel  of  celebrants 
by  two  fraternities  of  priests  —  the  Snakes  and  the  Ante- 
lopes. In  the  public  dance,  the  ancestors  are  personated 
by  men  carrying  reptiles  in  their  mouths  —  the  rattle- 
snakes being  regarded  as  the  elder  brothers  and  as  members 
of  the  Snake  clan.^  Walpi  was  originally  founded  by  the 
Bear  and  Snake  clans,  the  latter  largely  predominant. 
Probably,  at  that  time  all  the  men  of  the  Bear-Snake  clans 
participated  in  the  great  ceremony  of  the  Snake  Dance. 
Since  then  the  coming  to  the  pueblo  of  other  clans,  especially 
the  Ala  (Horn)  and  Lenya  (Flute)  clans,  has  caused  the 
society  to  outgrow  its  clan  limitations.  The  expanded 
society  now  called  that  of  the  Snakes  and  Antelopes,  in- 
cludes members  from  all  the  clans.  The  head  of  the  fra- 
ternity and  a  majority  of  the  members  still  come,  however, 
from  the  Snake  clan.'^ 


Katcinas,  for  instance,  have  become 
potent  in  bringing  rain  or  in  causing 
crops  to  grow  (ibid.,  92). 

^  Ibid.^  92-93. 

2  Ibid.,  93. 

2  Ibid.,  93. 

^  Id.,  Nineteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Amer.  Ethnol.,  590,  624,  1007.  The 
legend  which  is  told  to  explain  the 


origin  of  the  Snake  Dance  throws 
much  light  on  its  connection  with  the 
clans.  When  rain  and  corn  were 
failing, -Ti)'^?,  one  of  the  clansmen, 
left  his  home  to  find  a  people  who 
knew  the  prayers,  rites,  and  songs  by 
which  these  much-needed  blessings 
could  be  obtained.  His  search  was 
successful.    After  a  time  he  returned 


CHAPTER  X 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES 


In  presenting  the  evidence  for  an  original  clan  structure 
underlying  the  secret  associations  of  most  primitive  peoples, 
we  are  supplied,  also,  v^ith  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of 
those  practices,  half-magical,  half-religious  and  dramatic, 
which  are  almost  invariably  connected  with  them.  The 
primitive  clan  rites,  as  these  are  most  clearly  exhibited  among 
the  Australian  natives,  reveal,  as  we  have  seen,  two  char- 
acteristic features.    The  Arunta  totem  groups  are  employed 


to  Walpi,  bringing  with  him  a  wife 
he  had  married  among  his  new-found 
friends.  The  children  of  his  bride 
were  snakes,  like  those  of  her  family 
(the  Snake  clan).  From  their  parents 
they  inherited  the  prayers  and  songs 
that  bring  rain  and  corn.  These 
children  were  the  ancestors  of  the 
present  Snake  people.  So  every 
year,  the  Snake  people  who  have  been 
initiated  into  the  Snake  fraternity, 
assemble  together,  and  gathering  the 
snakes  from  the  fields,  dance  with 
them,  and  personate  their  mother, 
the  corn  maiden.  Thus  the  Snake 
Dance  '^is  simply  the  revival  of  the 
worship  of  the  Snake  people  as 
legends  declare  it  to  have  been  prac- 
tised when  Tiyo  was  initiated  into 
its  mysteries  in  the  world  which  he 
visited "  (Fewkes  in  Sixteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.,  304).  '^We 
need  only  look  to  the  clan  relation  of 
the  majority  of  priests  in  the  cele- 
bration to  show  its  intimate  connec- 
tion with  the  Snake  clan,  for  the 
Snake  chief,  the  Antelope  chief,  and 


all  the  adult  men  of  the  Snake  family 
participate  in  it.  The  reverence 
with  which  the  ancestor,  and  par- 
ticularly the  ancestress,  of  the  Snake 
clan,  viz.  Tcuamana,  is  regarded, 
and  the  personation  of  these  beings 
in  Kiva  rites  certainly  gives  strong 
support  to  a  theory  of  totemistic 
ancestor  worship {Nineteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  EthnoL,  965; 
cf.  Sixteenth  Ann.  Rep.,  304-305). 
But  like  the  Katcina  worship,  the 
Snake  Dance  is  a  highly  modified 
form  of  ancestor  worship;  the  rattle- 
snakes introduced  in  the  rites  are 
clan  totems  whose  worship  is  a  wor- 
ship of  the  clan  ancestors.  As  such 
they  are  intercessors  between  man 
and  the  rain  gods.  If  the  ^'proper 
ceremonies  with  them  are  performed 
in  prescribed  sequence  and  in  tra- 
ditional ways,  the  rains  must  come, 
because  they  came  in  the  ancient 
times  in  the  house  of  the  Snake  maid. 
The  idea  of  magic  permeates  the 
whole  ceremony"  {Nineteenth  Ann. 
Rep.,  1008). 


160 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  i6i 


at  the  Engwurdy  for  the  presentation  of  certain  dramatic 
performances  called  Quahara.  The  Quabara^  though 
closely  associated  with  particular  totems,  are  already  in 
process  of  partition  among  other  totems,  a  process  which, 
if  continued,  would  result  in  the  presentation  of  these 
performances  by  the  secret  societies  composed  of  individ- 
uals from  several  or  many  totem  groups.  Moreover, 
the  totem  groups,  among  the  Arunta,  are  magical  corpora- 
tions, whose  members  work  magic  for  the  increase  of  the 
totem  with  which  they  are  connected.  Similar  magical, 
religious,  and  dramatic  rites  are  associated  with  the  secret 
societies  of  many  other  primitive  peoples.  Obscured  as 
they  have  been,  among  the  Melanesians  and  Africans  by 
the  temporary  emergence  of  political  and  judicial  functions, 
and  hidden,  as  they  must  always  have  remained,  from  the 
gaze  of  the  uninitiated,  they  nevertheless  form  the  central 
feature  of  these  organizations.  Among  the  North  American 
tribes  where  the  fraternities  exercise  few  functions  of  social 
control,  such  associations  appear  in  the  clear  light  as  cor- 
porations of  magic-working  priests. 

Dramatic  and  magical  ceremonies  connected  with  the 
secret  societies  have  been  observed  in  New  Guinea  and 
Torres  Straits.  Among  the  Toaripi  tribes  of  British  New 
Guinea,  the  maskers  appear  to  be  in  the  service  of  Kaeva- 
kuku.  The  first-fruits  of  the  harvest  belong  to  Kaevakuku^^ 
and  in  honor  of  the  goddess,  there  are  great  festivals  cele- 
brated in  secret  by  the  men  who  compose  the  organization.^ 
In  some  of  the  islands  of  Torres  Straits  elaborate 
dramatic  ceremonies  formerly  existed.  At  Pulu  the  Kwody 
or  men's  house,  was  the  scene  of  an  important  funeral 
ceremony  or  death  dance  called  the  tai.  This  was  an 
annual  rite  in  honor  of  tribesmen  recently  deceased.  No 
woman  or  uninitiated  man  was  allowed  to  witness  it.^ 
The  chief  of  the  tai- wzs  a  culture-hero  called  Waiatj  who 
according  to  the  folk-tales  came  from  Daudai  (British  New 

^  Chalmers  and  Gill,  Work  and         ^  Haddon  in  Rep.  Cambr.  An- 

Adventure  in  New  Guinea,  152.  throp.  Expedition  to  Torres  Straits y 

^  Chalmers,  Pioneering  in  New  v,  252. 
Guinea,  49  sq,,  72  sq. 

M 


i62         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Guinea).^  He  was  represented  by  a  wooden  figure  of  a  man 
without  eyes  or  ears.  The  kernge^  or  novices,  were  not 
allowed  to  see  this  representation  as  it  stood  in  the  square 
house  in  the  Kwod,  for  "  Waiat  belonged  solely  to  the  elder 
men."  ^  The  chief  performers,  their  heads  covered  with 
leafy  masks,  represented  the  ghosts  of  the  recently  deceased 
tribesmen.^  The  tai  presents  the  elements  of  an  organized 
dramatic  entertainment  in  which  the  performers  appeared 
in  regular  order  and  imitated  the  characteristic  gait  and 
actions  of  the  deceased.  The  underlying  idea  of  the  cere- 
mony was  to  convey  to  the  mourners  assurance  that  the 
ghost  personated  by  the  dancer  visited  his  friends.  The 
women  who  did  not  know  the  identity  of  the  dancers  be- 
lieved them  to  be  really  ghosts.^  Various  magical  cere- 
monies were  also  practised  by  the  Torres  Islanders.  At 
Mabuiag  the  Dangal  clan  had  a  magical  ceremony  per- 
formed in  the  Kwod  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the 
dugong  to  come  towards  the  island  and  be  caught.^  At 
Mabuiag,  also,  it  was  customary  to  hand  over  the  first  turtle 
caught  during  the  turtle-breeding  season  to  the  Surlal  clan, 
who  performed  a  ceremony  over  it  in  their  own  Kwod, 
The  rite  was  intended  '''to  make  him  (that  is,  all  the  turtle) 
proper  fast,'"  i.e.  copulate  and  thus  insure  a  good  turtle 
season.  While  there  was  no  attempt  at  secrecy  during  the 
performance,  it  is  noteworthy  that  no  women  or  children  or 
members  of  other  clans  were  present.  The  clansmen  wore 
a  cassowary-feather  head-dress  and  danced  round  the  turtle 
whirling  bull-roarers.® 

The  Melanesian  evidence,  though  scanty,  is  sufficient 
to  bring  the  secret  societies  in  this  region  in  line  with  those 
of  other  parts  of  the  world.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  decline 
of  the  important  social  functions  connected  with  the  socie- 
ties results  in  the  recrudescence  of  their  magical  and  dramatic 
characteristics.    The  performances  of  the  Dukduk  of  the 


^  Rep.  Cambr.  Anthrop.  Expedition 
to  Torres  Straits,  v,  54. 
^  Ibid.,  V,  253  n. 
^  Ibid.,  y,  253. 
'  Ibid.,  Y,  255-256. 


^  Ibid.,y,  182;  YLsiddonm  Rep.  Brit. 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  Ixxii  (1902),  749. 

^  Haddon  and  Rivers  in  Rep. 
Cambr.  Anthrop.  Expedition  to  Torres 
Straits,  v,  183-184. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  163 


Bismarck  Archipelago  are  supposed  to  possess  some  medical 
efficacy.  When  a  chief  or  some  other  person  of  importance 
is  ill,  Dukduk  ceremonies  lasting  about  a  week  are  per- 
formed. The  Einethj  a  great  Dukduk  feast  which  takes 
place  at  stated  periods  in  the  lodge  of  the  society,  appears 
to  be  connected  with  the  propitiation  of  evil  spirits.^  In 
some  parts  of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago  the  Dukduk  is 
much  less  powerful  than  elsewhere,  a  fact  which  accounts 
for  the  variation  in  the  different  descriptions  which  have 
been  given  of  it.  In  New  Pomerania  it  is  far  less  of  a  ''law- 
god''  society  than  in  New  Hanover.  In  the  former  island 
it  now  figures  chiefly  as  a  dramatic  organization.  Though 
its  secrecy  is  still  observed,  the  women  do  not  scruple  in 
private  to  make  fun  of  the  performances.  The  members 
give  dramatic  representations  in  which  two  masked  figures, 
the  Dukduk  and  Tuhuvan^  his  wife,  are  the  leading  actors.^ 
The  preparation  of  the  costumes  occupies  many  days. 
When  all  is  finished,  the  Dukduk  and  Tubuvan  travel  from 
village  to  village  and  perform  before  their  appreciative 
native  audiences.^  Some  of  the  festivals  occupy  an  entire 
month.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Areoi  society  of  Tahiti^ 
there  seems  a  growing  tendency  for  the  members  of 
the  upper  orders  of  the  Dukduk  to  reserve  themselves 
from  the  more  common  and  public  entertainments  asso- 
ciated with  the  inferior  degrees.^  Florida  soci- 
eties have  charge  of  periodical  sacrifices  and  feasts  con- 
nected with  vegetation  cults.  Ceremonies  devoted  to  the 
propitiation  of  the  various  Tindalos^  who  preside  over 
vegetation,  are  given  ''to  inaugurate  the  time  of  eating  the 
first-fruits  of  certain  trees.  .  .      ^     Some  of  the  Banks 


^  Graf  V.  Pfeil  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst. J  xxvii  (1897),  186  sq.;  Hiibner 
in  Die  Ethno gr aphis ch- Anthrop olo- 
gische  AUheilung  des  Museum  Godef- 
froy  in  Hamburg  (Hamburg,  188 1), 
17-18. 

^  An  obvious  parallel  is  afforded  in 
North  Bougainville  where  the  tribal 
society  is  associated  with  two  spirits, 
Ruk  a  tzon  being  the  male  and  Ruk  a 


tahol  the  female  spirit  (Parkinson  in 
Abhandl.  u.  Berichte  d.  Kgl.  Zoolog. 
u.  Anthr op. -Ethno gr.  Museums  zu 
Dresden,  vii,  1899,  no.  6,  11). 

^  Parkinson,  Im  Bismarck-Archi- 
pel,  134. 

^  Infra,  166. 

^  Parkinson,  loc.  cit. 

^  Penny,  Ten  Years  in  Mel- 
anesia, 69. 


i64         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Islands  societies  are  now  mere  dramatic  organizations. 
Their  members  appear  in  the  villages  at  frequent  intervals, 
to  dance  and  exhibit  their  masks  and  costumes.  The  Qat 
is  the  great  dancing  society  common  throughout  these 
islands.  Neophytes  are  instructed  in  a  very  difficult  dance 
requiring  months  of  practice  for  acquisition.^  The  Qetu 
and  fFelu  of  the  New  Hebrides  still  survive  as  dramatic 
societies.  The  "mysteries''  concern  only  the  construction 
of  the  Qetu  figures  and  the  manner  of  the  Qetu  dance. ^ 
The  Nanga  enclosure,  where  the  Fijian  initiatory  rites 
were  held,  served  also  as  a  temple  for  sacred  rites. 
There  dwelt  the  ancestors  of  the  tribe,  and  in  their  honor 
every  year  solemn  feasts  were  held,  and  the  first-fruits  of 
the  yam  harvest  were  presented  to  them.  No  man  might 
taste  of  the  new  yams  until  this  presentation  had  been 
made.^ 

In  the  Areoiy  a  society  which  though  best  known  at  Tahiti, 
seems  to  have  extended  throughout  the  Polynesian  area 
as  far  as  Hawaii,  it  is  possible  to  disclose  the  existence  of 
a  magical  fraternity  possessing  great  interest  and  impor- 
tance. Much  that  is  perplexing  and  apparently  contra- 
dictory in  the  various  accounts  of  this  organization  becomes 
capable  of  explanation  on  the  theory  of  its  development 
from  a  secret  society  of  the  Melanesian  model.  To  the 
early  missionaries  and  mariners  the  Areoi  appeared  only  as 
a  diabolical  mystery  in  the  rites  of  which  the  worst  abomi- 
nations wxre  practised.  The  men  and  women  who  were 
members  lived  in  a  condition  of  the  most  complete  promis- 
cuity, the  horror  of  which  was  increased  by  the  infanticide 
practised.  Those  who  were  admitted  to  the  society  must 
first  kill  all  their  children.  The  unfortunate  issue  of  sub- 
sequent alliances  must  never  be  suffered  to  live.  The 
performances  themselves  were  of  the  most  indecent  and 
corrupting  character.  But  there  seems  no  doubt  but  that 
this  dark  picture  fails  to  represent  the  real  nature  of  the 
society.    The  evil  customs  were  much  exaggerated,  and. 


^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  83  sq,  ^  Fison  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  InsL 
^  Ibid.,  91.  xiv  (1884),  27. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  165 


confined  as  they  were  to  the  lowest  ranks  of  the  society, 
appear  to  have  been  not  more  reprehensible  than  those  of 
Polynesian  peoples  in  general.  Infanticide  itself  was  a 
common  practice  throughout  these  islands.  The  propor- 
tion of  women  members  to  men,  moreover,  was  much  less 
considerable  than  has  been  supposed.  At  any  rate  there 
is  no  doubt  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  members  of 
the  Areot  were  regarded  by  the  inhabitants  of  these  islands.^ 
Its  great  antiquity  seems  evident,  not  only  in  the  mysteri- 
ous regard  accorded  to  its  members  as  being  themselves 
the  very  representatives  of  the  gods  on  earth,  but  also  in 
the  legend  of  its  foundation  by  Oro,  one  of  the  principal 
Polynesian  divinities.^  The  natives  regarded  the  society 
as  coeval  with  the  creation  of  man.  To  be  an  Areoi  was 
an  honor  greatly  prized.  Those  who  held  the  higher  grades 
enjoyed  all  the  privileges  of  both  priests  and  warriors,  while 
on  earth.  After  death  they  were  accorded  the  most  exalted 
seats  in  the  sensual  Tahitian  heaven.  As  in  the  Melane- 
sian  societies,  the  membership  included  both  the  living  and 
the  dead,  for  once  an  Areoi  always  an  Areoi,^  Before  a 
candidate  could  be  received  for  membership,  he  must  first 
have  given  evidence  of  being  inspired  by  the  gods.  Pre- 
vious to  initiation  he  remained  for  months  and  even  years 
on  probation.  His  stay  in  the  lowest  grades  was  prolonged 
until  he  had  mastered  the  songs  and  dances,  and  the  dra- 
matic representations.  His  reception  into  the  sacred  ranks 
was  always  made  the  occasion  of  a  great  festival  at  which 
he  received  a  new  name.^  There  were  twelve  superior 
lodges,  presided  over  by  the  chiefs  or  grandmasters  of  the 
society.  Six  of  these  lodges  were  at  Tahiti  and  the  remain- 
ing six  in  adjoining  islands.^  In  each  lodge  there  were 
a  number  of  grades  to  which  initiates  could  attain.  To 

*  Cf.  Forster,  A  Voyage  round  the  ^  Cf.  the  privileges  in  the  next 

World,  ii,  130.  world  reserved  for  a  member  of  the 

^  The  legend  is  given  with  some  Melanesian  Suqe,   Codrington,  op. 

variant  details  by  our  two   chief  cit.,  112. 

authorities,    Ellis,    Polynesian    Re-  "*  Moerenhout,  op.  cit.y  i,  493-494; 

searches,  i,   183-185;^  and  Moeren-  Ellis,      ci/.,  i.  190. 

hout,  Voyages  aux  lies  du  Grand  ^  Moerenhout,  op.  cit.,  i,  489-490. 
Ocean,  i,  485-489. 


i66         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


pass  through  these  different  degrees  and  thus  to  rise  in 
dignity  and  honor,  did  not  depend  upon  the  social  class 
of  the  aspirant;  it  was  rather  determined  by  the  length  of 
his  membership  in  the  lower  degrees,  and  upon  his  personal 
qualities  as  poet,  orator,  or  singer.  The  only  exception 
to  this  democratic  feature  was  the  admission  of  the  leading 
chiefs  to  the  upper  grades  without  the  necessity  of  their 
passing  through  the  lower.  These  different  degrees,  seven 
or  nine  in  number,  had  their  distinctive  marks  indicated 
by  tattooing  and  painting.  The  two  lowest  degrees  meant 
^'youths  training  up."  ^  The  cost  of  entrance  to  the  lowest 
degree  was  excessive.  As  the  higher  degrees  were  reached 
the  expense  became  so  great  that  as  a  rule  only  the  chiefs 
and  the  wealthier  men  of  the  community  could  afford  to 
pass  through  them.^  The  ridiculous  and  frivolous  prac- 
tices associated  with  the  organization,  as  well  as  the  immoral 
exhibitions  which  were  held,  seem  to  have  been  confined 
to  the  lower  grades.  The  higher  grades  alone  were  in  pos- 
session of  the  innermost  secrets  and  of  the  religious  worship 
which  was  a  part  of  them.^  As  a  dramatic  and  magical 
organization,  the  Areoi  celebrated  the  mysteries  of  Oro,  its 
divine  founder  and  protector.  As  bards  and  skalds  the 
members  chanted  in  their  hymns  the  life  and  actions  of  the 
gods  and  the  wonders  of  creation.  Every  December  the 
first-fruits  of  the  harvest  were  offered  to  Oro  in  a  great  festi- 
val held  at  Tahiti.  This  festival  was  paralleled  by  those 
held  in  the  Marquesas  Islands,  every  October,  to  celebrate 
the  return  of  Mahoui^  the  Sun,  to  the  world;  ''fetes  toutes 
etablies  pour  celebrer  le  retour  du  dieu  qui  ramene  la  fer- 
tilite  el  Tabondance."  ^  These  festivals  and  feasts  lasting 
until  April  or  May  of  each  year  were  held  in  the  Maraisy 
or  men's  houses.  At  them  "toutes  les  populations,  meme 
les  plus  sauvages,  suspendaient  souvent  leurs  eternelles 
hostilites."  ^    Some  of  the  dramatic  representations  were 


*  Moerenhout,  op.  cU.y  i,  490-491; 
Ellis,  op.  cit.,  i,  188-189. 

^  Moerenhout,  op.  cit.y  i,  491. 

^  Lesson,  Voyage  autour  du  Monde, 
i,  421. 


^  Moerenhout,  op.  cit.,  i,  502. 

^  Ibid. J  i,  502-503.  An  error  of  a 
single  word  or  verse  in  the  dramatic 
recitations  of  the  Areoi  would  suspend 
the  fetes.    Hence  arose  the  necessity 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  167 


regularly  constructed  and  could  be  repeated  with  but  little 
variation,  as  the  actors  travelled  from  island  to  island.  A 
company  on  landing  would  present  at  the  Marat  a  pig  as 
a  thank-offering.  But  this  gift  also  served  as  a  hint  that 
they  expected  food  and  accommodation.  In  most  of  the 
islands  spacious  houses  were  provided  for  this  purpose. 
In  this  manner,  members  of  the  associations  obtained  an 
easy  livelihood.  The  Areois^  like  initiates  of  Dukduk  or 
Egboy  enjoyed  many  privileges  and  existed  chiefly  on  the 
contributions  exacted  from  a  superstitious  people,  making 
a  profit  "de  la  terreur  qu'ils  inspiraient  pour  exercer  les 
plus  indignes  exactions."  ^ 

This  evidence  yielded  by  a  study  of  the  Areot  organization 
and  rites  for  its  likeness  to  secret  societies  in  other  parts  of 
the  world,  is  strengthened  by  additional  considerations  of 
an  external  character.  The  early  voyagers  often  described 
the  imposing  Marais^  or  Maraes^  as  the  temples  of  the  people. 
They  served  as  places  of  sepulture  for  important  members 
of  the  community.  On  their  altars  human  sacrifices  were 
offered.  These  altars  were  always  placed  in  some  retired 
spot  in  the  heart  of  gloomy  woods.  The  ceremonies  con- 
nected with  the  Marais  took  place  at  the  approach  of  twi- 
light; and  only  the  initiated  had  the  right  of  practising  the 
mysteries.  The  sanctity  of  the  Marais  on  such  occasions  was 
preserved  by  the  imposition  of  the  death  penalty  for  intrusion. 
During  funeral  ceremonies  all  the  uninitiated  inhabitants 
were  obliged  to  keep  to  their  houses,  or  at  least  to  remain 


of  a  most  rigorous  apprenticeship; 
a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  songs  and 
traditions  was  essential  before  a 
novice  could  participate  in  the  rep- 
resentations. This  knowledge  was 
publicly  tested  by  masters  of  the  art 
(Moerenhout,  op.  cit.,  i,  501)  before 
candidates  were  admitted  to  the 
society.  In  the  Qat,  the  great 
dancing  society  throughout  the  Banks 
Islands,  neophytes  learn  a  very  dif- 
ficult dance,  requiring  several  months 
of  practice  before  a  performance  can 
be  given.  In  former  times  an  error 
in  the  dance  was  considered  so  serious 


that  the  unlucky  performer  was  often 
killed  by  the  old  men  who  directed 
the  ceremonies  (Codrington,  Mel- 
anesianSj  86  sq.).  In  the  dances  of 
the  Kwakiutl  societies,  no  greater 
misfortune  could  occur  than  an 
error  in  the  recitation,  or  an  unlucky 
slip  in  the  dance.  Such  a  mischance 
meant  that  the  ill-will  of  the  directing 
spirits  had  been  used  against  the 
members  concerned  (Boas,  op.  cit.y 
433-434). 

^  Lutteroth,  O-Tatti,  15 ;  cf, 
Ellis,  op.  cit.,  i,  186-188. 


i68         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  place  where  the  priests 
were  making  their  prayers.  One  of  the  principal  celebrants 
was  dressed  in  the  paraij  "vetement  mortuaire,"  consisting 
in  part  of  a  huge  mask  hiding  the  head.  The  appearance 
of  the  priest  dressed  in  the  parai  was  the  signal  for  all  the 
uninitiated  to  take  flight.  So  extreme  was  the  dread  and 
veneration  of  the  people  for  these  Marais,  and  for  the  mys- 
terious rites  connected  with  them,  that,  long  after  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity,  the  structures  were  carefully  avoided. 
Lesson,  with  only  the  greatest  difficulty,  could  induce  his 
guides  to  show  him  one.^  Now  we  know,  that  at  least  in 
some  cases,  the  Marais  were  occupied  by  the  Areois,  Of 
one  of  these  structures  visited  by  Mr.  Tyerman,  an  early 
missionary,  we  are  told:  ''This  building  is  famous  for 
having  been  the  rendezvous  of  the  Areois.  Here  they 
celebrated  their  horrid  excesses.  .  .  ^  Baron  von  Hiigel, 
discussing  the  Nanga  enclosures  of  the  Fijians,  which  served 
as  a  lodge  or  temple  of  the  tribal  secret  association,  notes 
their  likeness  to  the  Polynesian  Marais,^  This  parallel 
is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  Marais^  like  secret 
lodges  elsewhere,  were  both  religious  and  social  institutions. 
They  served  as  gathering  places  for  the  important  men  of 
the  community.  A  man's  social  position  depended  on  his 
having  a  stone  to  sit  upon  within  the  Marai  enclosure. 
Membership  in  the  Marai  was  evidence  of  rank  and  owner- 
ship of  property.^  Women  were  always  excluded  from  them.^ 
Some  remarkable  parallels  of  the  Areoi  institution  were 


^  Lesson,  op.  cit.,  404  sq.;  cf. 
Keeler  in  Out  Westy  xix  (1903),  635, 
643-644. 

^  Montgomery,  Journal  of  Voy- 
ages and  Travels  by  the  Rev.  Daniel 
Tyerman  and  George  Bennet,  Esq.y  i, 
113.  At  Raro tonga  the  principal 
Marai  was  the  place  where  the  ruling 
chiefs  of  the  Makea  clan  often  dwelt 
and  where  sacrifices  to  the  gods  and 
the  Takwura,  or  annual  feast  of  the 
first-fruits,  were  held.  Here  also  the 
Ariki,  or  high  priest,  had  his  home. 
When  warrior  chiefs  of  the  island 


came  to  visit  the  Ariki,  they  lodged 
in  a  seven-roomed  house  on  the  side 
of  the  road.  This  house  was  called 
Are-kariei,  or  house  of  amusement, 
kariei  being  the  Rarotonga  equiva- 
lent of  the  Tahitian  Areoi  and  the 
Marquesan  Kaioi  (Smith  in  Jour. 
Polynesian  Soc,  xii,  1903,  218-219). 

^  Intern.  Archiv  /.  Ethnogr.,  ii 
(1889),  256. 

^  Memoirs  of  Ariitaimai  (Paris, 
1900),  15  sq. 

^  Moerenhout,  op.  cit.y  i,  469. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  169 


formerly  to  be  observed  in  the  Caroline  and  Marianne 
islands.  When  the  first  Catholic  missionaries  arrived  at 
the  Mariannes,  they  found  in  the  U rttoi  society  the  greatest 
hindrance  to  the  progress  of  Christianity.  The  Uritoisy 
says  Father  Le  Gobien,  are  the  young  men  who  live  with 
their  mistresses  without  desiring  to  engage  themselves  in 
the  bonds  of  marriage.  Of  their  public  houses,  in  every 
neighborhood,  he  piously  remarks :  Le  Demon  a  etabli 
icy  des  Seminaires  de  debauche."  ^  Freycinet,  who  met 
the  Uritois  in  Guam,  describes  the  purpose  of  the  societies 
as  ^'un  epicurisme  grossier."  The  members  had  a  mysteri- 
ous language  which  was  used  principally  for  amorous  songs. ^ 
Before  marriage  the  greatest  license  prevailed  between 
the  sexes;  girls  who  entered  the  ^^maisons  des  celibataires" 
suffered  no  disgrace ;  parents  would  even  urge  their  children 
to  enter  them.^  This  Uritoi  society  of  the  old  Chamorros 
of  the  Mariannes,  seems,  in  fact,  to  have  been  the  Areoi 
under  another  name  and  in  a  somewhat  less  developed 
stage.  The  most  primitive  form  is  still  to  be  found  in  the 
Pelew  Islands  in  the  curious  Kaldebekel  institution.  Kalde- 
bekels  are  really  clubs  formed  by  the  young  men.  Their 
place  of  resort  is  the  Baiy  or  sleeping-house  of  the  men. 
In  his  parents'  house  a  youth  is  only  a  guest;  at  night  he 
must  sleep  in  the  Baij  not  only  because  he  is  a  member  of 
a  Kaldebekel  club,  but  because  it  is  the  custom  of  the  young 
men  to  be  absent  during  the  night  from  the  home  of  their 
parents.^  Each  Kaldebekel  has  its  own  Bai,  In  these 
there  are  usually  one  or  more  Armengols^  unmarried  girls, 
who  are  often  the  temporary  property  of  the  young  men.^ 
In  the  Carolines  the  same  custom  prevails.    At  Wap  or  Yap 


*  Histoire  des  lies  Marianes,  6i- 

62. 

^  Voyage  autour  du  Monde,  ii, 
369-370. 

^  Ibid.^  369. 

*  Kubary,  Ethnographische  Beit- 
r'dge  zur  Kenntniss  der  Karolinischen 
Inselgruppe  und  Nachbarschaft,  i, 
34  sq.,  62. 

^  Ibid.,  91.  This  custom  seems 
now  to  be  falling  into  decay  in  the 


Pelew  group.  Some  of  the  clubs 
have  no  women  in  them  at  all,  and 
many  have  only  one.  Kubary  notes, 
in  passing,  the  likeness  of  these  Bais 
to  the  Polynesian  Marais,  op.  ciL, 
64;  see  also  on  the  Bai,  Bridge  in 
Proc.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc,  new  series, 
viii  (1886),  559;  George  Keate,  An 
Account  of  the  Pelew  Islands  (Dublin, 
1788),  309. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Island,  one  of  the  Western  Carolines,  the  girls  are  called 
mespily  and  their  business  is  ^^to  minister  to  the  pleasures 
of  the  men  of  the  particular  clan  or  brotherhood  to  which 
the  building  belongs/'  ^  Such  institutions  have  been  also 
found  at  Kusaie  or  Ualua,  one  of  the  Eastern  Carolines,^ 
and  at  Ponape,  the  most  important  of  the  Caroline  group. 
Here  all  chiefs  belong,  ex  officio;  others  are  admitted 
after  a  long  novitiate  and  the  passing  of  various  ordeals. 
The  societies  thus  formed  are  divided  into  grades  and  hold 
secret  meetings.^ 

In  New  Zealand,  the  ancient  Maori  institution  of  the 
Whare  Kura^  was  a  priestly  society,  which,  so  far  as  our 
information  extends,  presents  some  striking  likenesses  to 
the  Areoi  and  similar  fraternities.  The  Maori  religion  ^ 
''was  essentially  of  an  esoteric  nature.  The  strange  powers 
held  by  the  old  time  tohunga^  or  priest  .  .  .  as  also  the 
knowledge  of  the  sacred  genealogies  ...  all  these  and 
many  other  matters,  profoundly  sacred  to  the  Maori,  were 
known  but  to  a  select  few  of  the  tribe,  were  jealously  guarded 
and  taught  but  to  a  few  carefully  selected  neophytes  of 
each  generation,  in  a  special  house  set  apart  for  such  sacred 
matters,  during  which  period  the  novitiates  were  under 
strict  laws  of  tapu  and  were  not  allowed  to  return  to  their 
homes  or  visit  friends."  ^  The  knowledge  imparted  con- 
sisted mainly  of  the  popular  mythology  and  traditions. 
Novices  were  also  taught  to  be  skilful  workers  in  magic 
and  sleight-of-hand.  Nor  was  ventriloquism  —  so  useful 
an  adjunct  to  the  shaman's  art  —  neglected.  Following  the 
instruction  came  a  public  exhibition  at  which  the  candi- 
dates for  the  priesthood  displayed  their  powers.  Such 
details  as  well  as  many  others  —  the  admittance  by  a  form 
of  baptism,  the  long  novitiate  lasting  through  the  autumns 
and  winters  of  five  years,  the  seclusion  in  a  special  house 


^  Christian,  Caroline  Islands, 
290. 

'  Meinicke,  Die  Inseln  des  Stillen 
Oceans,  ii,  371-372,  381-382. 

^  Ibid.,  381.  See  also  on  this 
institution  in  the  Carolines,  Senfft  in 


Deutsches  Kolonialhlatt,   xi  (1900) 
417;  Christian  in  Geogr.  Jour.,  xiii 
(1899),   129;    Finsch,  Sildsee-Erin- 
nerungen,  26. 

^  Best  in  Jour,  Polynesian  Soc, 
ix  (1900)^  176. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  171 

which  could  not  be  entered  by  women  —  indicate  that  in 
aristocratic  New  Zealand  the  primitive  puberty  rites  had 
come  under  the  direction  of  a  priestly  class. ^ 

In  Africa,  various  magical  practices  are  associated  with 
a  number  of  the  secret  societies,  though,  as  already  explained, 
the  assumption  by  the  latter  of  important  judicial  and 
political  duties,  has  tended  to  obscure  the  other  aspects  of 
the  organization.  Nkimba  rites,  among  the  natives  of 
the  Lower  Congo,  according  to  one  account,  are  instituted 
when  "the  elders  of  a  village  consider  that  the  women  are 
not  bearing  the  usual  proportion  of  children.  .  .  ^ 
Members  of  Idiong  of  Old  Calabar  are  rain-makers.^  The 
Dou^  a  secret  society  of  the  Bobo,  has  similar  functions. 
tOne  of  their  masked  processions,  which  takes  place  during 
the  night  and  usually  at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season, 
has  the  object  "of  putting  to  flight  the  evil  spirits  at  the 
time  of  cultivation,  or  rather,  of  bringing  on  the  rain."  ^ 

Some  of  the  West  African  societies  confine  themselves 
exclusively  to  magical  practices  and  represent  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  specialization.  Kufong^  a  Mende 
organization,  busies  itself  with  the  making  of  charms  and 
the  practice  of  sorcery.^  Of  such  "mystical"  societies. 
Miss  Kingsley  remarks  that  most  of  their  mysticism  "con- 
sists in  the  concoction  of  charms  that  will  make  a  house- 
holder sleep  through  a  smart  burglary  on  his  premises,  and 
in  making  people  whom  members  wish  removed  go  and 
kill  themselves."  ^  Nkimba  novices  learn  the  botany  of 
various  plants  so  as  to  be  able  to  make  charms  and  spells. 
Gojambul  prepares  and  sells  native  remedies  for  disease, 
some  of  them  possessing  real  value. ^ 


^  On  the  Whare  Kura,  see  Dief- 
fenbach,  Travels  in  New  Zealand 
(London,  1843),  ii,  119;  John  White, 
The  Ancient  History  of  the  Maori 
(Wellington,  1887),  i,  15;  Reeves, 
The  Long  White  Cloud,  68  sq. 

^  Ward  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxiv  (1895),  288. 

^  Marriott,  ibid.,  xxix  (1899),  23. 

^  Binger,  Du  Niger  au  Golfe  de 


Guinee,  i,  379.  For  other  typical 
examples,  cf.  Crowther  and  Taylor, 
The  Gospel  on  the  Banks  of  the  Niger , 
215- 

^  Miss   Kingsley,    West  African 
Studies,  138. 
^  Ibid.,  4S?>.  : 

^  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the  Congo, 
i,  283. 

^  Miss   Kingsley,   loc.   cit.  Per- 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


In  proportion  as  the  secret  societies  are  compelled  to 
abandon  their  social  functions,  which  too  often  degenerate 
into  a  means  for  wholesale  intimidation  and  robbery,  the 
dramatic  ceremonies  associated  with  such  organizations 
often  survive  the  downfall  of  their  other  privileges.  This 
phase,  found  in  the  Melanesian  dancing  societies  ^  and  to 
some  extent  in  the  Polynesian  Areoiy  is  repeated  in  West 
Africa.  Here  the  secrecy  of  the  orders  in  many  cases  is 
of  the  thinnest  sort.  Their  main  purpose  appears  to  be 
by  their  crude  dramatic  representations  to  provide  a  little 
amusement  for  an  unbelieving  populace.  The  secret  so- 
ciety has  become  a  theatrical  troupe.  The  Simo  of  French 
Guinea  affords  an  illustration  of  the  degeneration  of  a 
tribal  society  from  an  originally  powerful  organization  ♦ 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  through  an  inter- 
mediate stage  of  brigandage  and  rapine,  into  a  mere  band 
of  dancers  and  actors  deprived  of  all  importance  and  pres- 
tige.^ The  power  of  the  organization  was  broken  by  its 
futile  resistance  to  the  French  colonists,  and  now  its  mem- 
bers "ne  puisent  plus  leur  raison  d'etre  que  dans  les  fetes 
que  donnent  les  villages  qui  en  possedent  encore,  fetes  ou 
ils  figurent  comme  danseurs,  acrobates,  prestidigitateurs."  ^ 
The  Kuhkwi  of  French  Congo  is  now  neither  secret  nor 
sacred  like  the  Nda  and  Njemhe.  A  masked  man  on 
stilts,  surrounded  by  young  men  singing  and  clapping  their 
hands,  parades  through  the  village  and  causes  great  mer- 
riment by  his  demonstrations  towards  the  women. ^  Tast 
of  the  Igalwas  and  Mpongwe  shows  a  similar  degen- 
eration.^ Egunguriy  a  powerful  ^Mevil"  among 
the  Yoruba  peoples,  was  brought  to  Sierra  Leone  with 
the  slaves  taken  from  slave-ships  captured  by  British  cruis- 
ers.   He  still  performs  his  antics  in  Freetown  among  the 


haps  the  specialization  of  function 
here  exhibited  has  grown  out  of  the 
custom  of  imparting  to  the  boys  at 
initiation  some  knowledge  of  the 
medicinal  use  of  herbs  and  leaves. 
For  the  Purr  ah  custom,  cf.  Alldridge, 
The  Sherhro  and  its  Hinterland ^  125. 
^  Supra  J  164. 


^  Leprince  in  Revue  Scientifique, 
fourth  series,  xiii  (1900),  399-401. 
^  Ibid.  J  401. 

^  Wilson,  Western  Africa,  397- 
398. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 
Africa,  535. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  173 

Christian  descendants  of  these  negroes.  ^'Spectators  soon 
gather  round  him,  and  though,  if  asked,  they  will  tell  you 
that  it  is  only  'play,'  many  of  them  are  half-doubtful,  and 
whenever  the  Egungun  makes  a  rush  forward  the  crowd 
flees  before  him  to  escape  his  touch."  ^ 

In  some  parts  of  Africa,  and  particularly  in  the  Congo 
region,  the  development  of  fetishism  and  of  a  class  of  fetish- 
doctors  has  resulted  in  transferring  the  initiation  ceremonies 
to  these  officials.  Under  their  supervision  the  boys  are 
secluded  in  the  forest,  where  they  are  circumcised  and  are 
o-iven  the  usual  course  of  instruction.  Sometimes  one 
fetish-doctor  is  in  charge;  more  frequently  there  are  a 
number  of  fetish-doctors  who,  with  their  assistants,  form 
•  an  organization  of  their  own.^    In  the  Nkimbay  an  institu- 


^  Ellis,  Yoruha-S peaking  Peoples, 
109.  See  also  Lady  Stirling-Max- 
well, editor^  A  Residence  at  Sierra 
Leone  (London,  1849),  267. 

For  further  illustrations  of  African 
masked  dances  and  dramatic  per- 
formances, see  Foa,  La  Tr  aver  see  de 
rAfrique,  42;  Holub,  Seven  Years 
in  South  Africa,  ii,  172;  Rohlfs, 
Quer  durch  Afrika,  i,  175-176; 
R.  A.  Freeman,  Travels  and  Life 
in  Ashanti  and  Jaman,  148  sq.; 
Clapperton,  Journal  of  a  Second 
Expedition  into  the  Interior  of  A frica 
(London,  1829),  53  sq.;  Autenrieth, 
Ins  Inner -Hochland  von  Kamerun, 
32,  36-37;  Degrandpre,  Voyage  a  la 
cote  occidentale  d'Afrique  (Paris, 
1801),  i,  117-119. 

^  On  the  connection  of  the  fetish 
system  with  initiation  in  Ambamda 
and  Bamba,  cf.  Bastian,  Ein  Besuch 
in  San  Salvador,  82  sq.  The  medi- 
cine-man, fetish-doctor,  or  shaman 
of  the  African  tribes  has  by  no  means 
the  same  functions  in  all  parts  of  the 
continent.  He  often  combines,  ap- 
parently, the  duties  of  healer,  diviner, 
actor,  magician,  judge,  and  priest. 
Where  the  secret  societies  are  in  de- 
cay, the  fetish-doctor  assumes  many 
of  their  functions.    Among  Masongo 


tribes  of  northern  Angola,  a 
M^Quichi  is  the  combination  of 
charm-doctor  and  beggar  who  pre- 
sides over  the  seclusion  and  cir- 
cumcision of  the  boys  (Schiitt, 
Reisen  im  SUdwestlichen  Becken  des 
Congo,  106).  To  Capello  and  Ivens 
the  M^Quichi  is  a  fetish-man  who, 
in  addition  to  practising  magic  and 
performing  masked  dances,  ex- 
ercises utilitarian  functions,  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  castigating  mis- 
demeanants, the  punishing  shameless 
women,  and  the  accusing  criminals  " 
(From  Benguella  to  the  Territory  of 
Yacca,  i,  296).  Yassi,  among  the 
Ogowe  tribes  of  the  French  Congo, 
is  a  great  witch-doctor  and  a  most 
important  functionary  for  ferreting 
out  criminals.  Without  his  mask, 
Yassi  is  no  more  than  any  other  man. 
^'His  garb  transforms  him  into  a 
monster  having  the  power  of  mbuiri, 
or  mystery,  but  he  is  not  in  any  sense 
divine  or  supreme,  and  the  people 
feel  no  sentiment  of  reverence  or 
devotion  to  him"  (Garner,  in  sep- 
arate reprint  from  the  Journal  of 
the  African  Society  for  igo2,  378). 
Among  the  Rio  Nunez  tribes  of 
southwestern  Soudan,  the  fetish- 
man,  besides  initiating  the  boys,  acts 


174         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

tion  which  has  a  wide  range  among  the  Lower  Congo  tribes, 
initiatory  rites  are  in  charge  of  the  Nganga^  or  fetish-man, 
who  Hves  with  his  assistants  in  an  enclosure  near  each 
village.  The  candidate  for  this  order,  having  previously 
imbibed  a  sleeping  potion,  swoons  in  some  public  assemblage 
and  is  at  once  surrounded  by  the  Nganga  and  his  assistants, 
who  take  him  to  the  enclosure.  It  is  given  out  that  he  is 
dead  and  has  gone  to  the  spirit-world,  whence  by  the  power 
of  the  great  Nganga  he  will  subsequently  be  restored  to 
life.  The  novice  remains  with  the  Nganga  for  a  prolonged, 
period,  sometimes  for  several  years,  learning  a  new  language, 
probably  an  archaic  Bantu,  and  receiving  instruction  in 
the  mysteries  of  the  order.  ''No  woman  is  allowed  to  look 
on  the  face  of  one  of  the  Nktmbay  who  daily  parade  through 
the  woods  or  through  the  surrounding  country  singing  a 
strange,  weird  song  to  warn  the  uninitiated  of  their  ap- 
proach.'' ^  When  brought  back  to  the  village  and  intro- 
duced by  his  new  name,  he  ''affects  to  treat  everything  with 
surprise  as  one  come  to  a  new  life  from  another  world;  to 
recognize  no  one,  not  even  his  father  or  mother,  while  his 
relatives  receive  him  as  raised  from  the  dead ;  and  for  several 
days  the  newcomer  is  permitted  to  take  anything  he  fancies 
in  the  village,  and  is  treated  with  every  kindness  until  it 
is  supposed  that  he  has  become  accustomed  to  his  sur- 
roundings. .  .  ^  He  then  decides  whether  he  will  become 
a  fetish-man  or  return  to  his  ordinary  life.  Ndemho 
or  Nkita^  of  the  Upper  Congo  tribes,  closely  resembles 
Nktmbay  but  has  long  since  passed  out  of  the  stage  of  a 
purely  puberty  organization.  A  tribal  society,  coming 
under  the  complete  control  of  the  fetish-man,  has  here  been 
opened  to  candidates  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages.  The 


as  a  magistrate  in  cases  of  suspected 
witchcraft,  prepares  ordeals,  and 
serves  in  general  as  a  minister  of 
justice  (Caillie,  Journal  d'un  Voy- 
age a  Temboctou  et  a  Jenne,  i,  231 
sq.) ;  for  further  examples,  see  Binger, 
Du  Niger  au  Golfe  de  Guinee,  i,  106; 
Ward,  Five  Years  with  the  Congo 
Cannibals,   38  sq.;    Guessfeldt  in 


Zeits.  f.  EthnoL,  viii  (1876),  207; 
Serpa  Pinto,  How  I  Crossed  Africa,  i, 
238;  Bastian,  Ein  Besuch  in  San 
Salvador,  82  sq.;  H.  v.  Wissmann, 
Unter  deutscher  Flagge  quer  durch 
Afrika  von  West  nach  Ost,  380. 

^  Glave,  Six  Years  of  Adventure 
in  Congo-Land,  80. 

2  Ihid.,  81. 


I 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  175 

fetish-man  instructs  the  novices  to  feign  death  at  a  sign 
from  him ;  the  seizure  takes  place,  usually  in  pubHc,  and 
the  novices  are  then  covered  with  a  funeral  cloth  and  taken 
away  to  the  vela^  or  isolated  enclosure.  Sometimes  this 
feigning  of  sudden  death  approaches  a  form  of  hysteria,  and 
the  witch-doctor  finds  himself  with  a  large  number  of  can- 
didates for  initiation.  After  the  initiates  return  to  the 
village,  they  are  for  a  long  time  strangers  to  their  surround- 
ings and  act  like  lunatics,  until  the  excitement  and  interest 
of  the  deception  wears  away."  ^  They  are  now  Nganga^  or 
the  "knowing  ones,"  a  general  term  in  the  Congo  tongues  for 
a  doctor,  diviner,  learned  man,  or  priest.  All  the  uninitiated 
are  Vanga^  the  "  unenlightened."  ^ 

From  such  practices  as  the  Nkimba  and  the  Ndemho 
illustrate,  it  is  an  easy  step  to  the  conversion  of  the  puberty 
institution  into  a  seminary  for  the  training  of  the  fetish- 
doctors  or  shamans.  Such  a  step  seems  to  have  been  taken 
among  the  Kaffirs,  where  the  Isintonga^  or  fetish-doctors, 
who  are  supposed  to  have  intimate  relations  with  the  Imi- 
sholugUj  or  spirits  of  the  dead,  form  a  special  caste,  the  secrets 
of  which  are  revealed  only  to  those  who  undergo  a  long 
initiation.  The  candidates  must  first  exhibit  by  their 
possession  of  hallucinations  the  unmistakable  influence 
of  the  ImtsholugUj  after  which  their  initiation  by  the  usual 
secret  rites  occurs.^  In  process  of  time  such  organizations 
may  develop  into  a  technically  trained  priesthood.  En- 
trance to  the  fraternity  is  then  gained  only  after  a  prolonged 
novitiate,  and  the  performance  of  rites  closely  modelled 
upon  those  that  prevailed  in  the  earlier  tribal  initiations. 
The  associated  shamans  rise  to  the  dignity  of  priests.  The 
priesthood  stage  will  naturally  not  be  reached  until  per- 
manent chieftainships  or  kingships  have  been  established. 
The  Polynesian  Whare  Kura  affords  a  pertinent  illustration 
of  this  development,^  nor  are  examples  wanting  in  the  few 

^  Bentley,  Dictionary  and  Gram-  id.y  Dictionary  and  Grammar  of  the 
mar  of  the  Kongo  Language,  506.         Kongo  Language,  371,  506. 

^  Id.,  Pioneering  on  the  Congo,  ^  Fritsch,  Die  Eingehorenen  SUd- 
i,  287;  id.,  Life  on  the  Congo,  78  sq.;     Afrika's,  98  sq. 

^  Supra,  1 70-171. 


176         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


African  instances  where  aristocratic-despotic  conditions 
have  been  reached.  In  the  Ogboni  of  the  Yoruba  tribes, 
the  tribal  society  is  seen  in  its  furthest  development  as  an 
organization  whose  members  have  the  power  of  priests. 
Ogboni  J  Ellis  tells  us,  is  ^'inseparably  connected"  with  the 
priesthood.  In  most  Yoruba  states  the  chief  of  Ogboni  is 
head  of  the  priesthood.^  Among  the  various  tribes  on  the 
Gold  Coast  and  Slave  Coast,  applicants  for  membership  in 
the  priestly  orders  serve  a  novitiate  for  several  years,  and 
learn  the  various  secrets  of  the  craft.  Dancing,  sleight- 
of-hand,  and  ventriloquism  are  important  subjects  in  the 
course.  Some  instruction  in  the  healing  art  is  also  imparted. 
Novices  are  taught  a  new  language  and  after  their  con- 
secration as  priests  are  given  a  new  name.  Generally 
they  must  present  satisfactory  evidence  of  possession  by 
the  god  to  whom  they  would  devote  themselves  before  they 
are  accepted  as  full  members  of  the  fraternity.  In  some 
cases  entrance  is  obtained  by  simulation  of  possession  before 
initiation,  in  a  manner  that  recalls  the  Ndembo  and  Nkimba 
rites. ^ 

Before  passing  to  a  discussion  of  the  North  American 
fraternities,  attention  may  be  directed  to  the  former  exist- 
ence among  the  Fuegians  and  other  South  American  peoples 
of  magical  and  dramatic  practices  most  clearly  connected 
with  an  earlier  secret  association.  Fuegian  puberty 
initiation  ceremonies  have  now  been  abandoned.  But 
in  former  days,  before  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries,  the 


*  Ellis,  Yoruba-S peaking  Peoples, 

93 

^  Ellis,  Tshi-Speaking  Peoples  of 
the  Gold  Coast  of  West  Africa  (Lon- 
don, 1887),  119  sq.;  id. J  Ewe-Speak- 
ing Peoples,  139  sq.;  id.,  Yoruba- 
Speaking  Peoples,  97  sq. 

It  is  of  considerable  interest  to 
point  out  the  likeness  between  the 
preliminary  initiation  required  of  the 
medicine-men  and  the  puberty  rites 
at  manhood.  Isolation  and  seclusion, 
ordeal  and  purification,  resurrection 
and  a  new  life,  are  features  common  to 
both.    For  initiation  of  medicine- 


men of  the  Australians,  Todas,  Sea 
Dyaks,  Guiana  tribes,  and  North 
American  Indians,  see  Spencer  and 
Gillen,  Native  Tribes  of  Central 
Australia,  522-530;  id.,  Northern 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  479-489; 
W.  E.  Marshall,  A  Phrenologist 
among  the  Todas  (London,  1873), 
138;  Perham,  quoted  in  Roth,  The 
Natives  of  Sarawak  and  British 
North  Borneo,  i,  280  sq.;  E.  F.  im 
Thurn,  Among  the  Indians  of  Guiana, 
334  sq.;  Brinton,  The  Myths  of  the 
New  World  (New  York,  1868),  2jgsq. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES 


kinaj  or  lodge,  besides  serving  as  the  place  of  confinement 
for  the  lads  at  puberty,  "etait  aussi  le  theatre  de  scenes 
mysterieuses,  bizarres,  d'origine  tres  ancienne,  dont  les 
roles,  autrefois  tenus  par  les  femmes,  avaient  ete  ensuite 
exclusivement  devolvus  aux  hommes.  Ceux-ci,  diversement 
grimes,  barbouilles  de  sang  tire  de  leurs  propres  veines,  le 
visage  cache  par  des  bonnets  en  ecorce,  sortaient  de  la  kina 
en  file  indienne,  sautant  ou  chantant,  poussant  des  cris 
sauvages,  et  cherchant  a  se  rendre  aussi  effrayants  que 
possible.  Les  femmes  et  les  enfants  n'etaient  pas  admis 
dans  rinterieur  de  la  kina^  mais  se  pla^aient  au  dehors  en 
spectateurs,  manifestaient  leur  contentement  par  des  cris 
de  frayeur,  alternant  avec  des  eclats  de  gaiete,  et  chantaient 
en  meme  temps  que  les  hommes,  mais  sans  jamais  se  meler 
a  eux.  Trois  des  acteurs  jouaient  un  role  particulier: 
Tun  etait  suppose  venir  du  fond  de  la  mer,  le  second  de 
rinterieur  de  la  terre  et  le  troisieme  de  Tepaisseur  des 
forets.  II  n'y  avait,  dans  tout  cela,  aucune  idee  propi- 
tiatoire  envers  un  etre  superieur,  mais  simplement  Tinten- 
tion  de  s'amuser  par  le  spectacle  lui-meme/'  ^  The 
Caishana,  a  Brazilian  tribe  on  the  Tunantins  river,  retain 
their  masked  dances  in  honor  of  the  Jurupari  demon.^ 
Among  the  Tucunas  the  masked  dances  are  now  semi-fes- 
tivals,^ while  among  the  more  civilized  Egas  of  northwestern 
Brazil  the  masked  dances  are  now  nothing  but  theatrical 
performances.^  The  Chilinchili  festival  held  by 

the  Aymara,  a  civilized  tribe  of  Bolivia,  affords  an  interesting 
illustration  of  the  survival  of  primitive  customs.  In  the  Chi- 
linchiliy  the  participants  represent  the  souls  of  the  dead  and 
go  through  pantomimic  scenes  of  the  familiar  type.  While 
the  festival  is  in  progress  the  actors  must  not  live  with  their 
wives.  Before  its  celebration  the  men  who  are  to  take  part 
go  about  the  village  in  the  night-time  carrying  paper  lanterns, 
ringing  bells,  and  visiting  the  houses  of  the  inhabitants  to 
collect  the  tolls  of  money  and  food  necessary  for  the  feast. 

^  Mission    Scientifique    du    Cap  ^  Ibid.y  ii,  403-405. 

Horn  (Paris,  1891),  vii,  377.  **  Ibid.,  ii,  204-205. 

^  Bates,  The  Naturalist  on  the 
River  Amazons ,  ii,  376. 

N 


lyS         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


The  simple  villagers  regard  them  with  the  highest  reverence 
and  av^e.  Mothers  sometimes  frighten  their  children  with 
tales  of  the  larij  as  the  actors  are  called.^ 

The  magical  fraternities  of  the  North  American  Indians 
hold  a  most  important  place  in  the  social  and  religious  life 
of  the  people.  In  the  face  of  tribal  disintegration  they  are 
still  powerful  factors  in  preserving  the  ancient  customs 
and  tribal  history.^  The  rites,  in  part  secret,  in  part  public, 
constitute  a  rude,  but  often  very  effective  dramatization  of 
the  myths  and  legends.  Usually  only  the  members  of  the 
particular  society  which  performs  the  rites  understand 
their  significance.  The  actors,  masked  or  costumed,  rep- 
resent animals  or  divine  beings  whose  history  the  myths  re- 
count. Candidates  for  initiation  give  much  attention  to  the 
preparation  of  the  songs  and  chants  sung  by  members  at  the 
lodge  meetings  or  at  the  public  performances  of  the  societies. 
By  means  of  elaborate  rituals  and  songs,  by  pictographs 
and  sand  paintings,^  the  religious  traditions  concerning  the 
ancestors  of  the  tribe  are  carefully  preserved.  Among  the 
Omahas  each  society  has  its  special  songs  and  music,  trans- 
mitted by  official  keepers.^  Siouan  traditions  are  "mys- 
terious things,  not  to  be  spoken  of  lightly  or  told  on  ordinary 
occasions.  These  traditions  were  preserved  in  the  secret 
societies  of  the  tribes.  They  explain  the  origin  of  the 
gentes  and  subgentes,  of  fire,  corn,  the  pipes,  bows  and 
arrows,  etc.''  ^  The  sacred  formulas  of  the  Cher- 

okees  include  medicine,  love,  hunting,  fishing,  war,  self- 
protection,  destruction  of  enemies,  witchcraft,  the  crops, 
the  council,  the  ball  play,  and  many  other  subjects  of  interest 
to  the  Indian  mind.^  The  Ojibwa  traditions  of 

''Indian  genesis  and  cosmogony  and  the  ritual  of  initiation 


^  Nusser  in  Globus,  Hi  (1887), 
123-126. 

2  Cf.  Miss  Fletcher  in  Jour.  Amer. 
Folk-Lore,  v  (1892),  135. 

^  An  interesting  and  suggestive 
parallel  to  these  sand  paintings  are 
the  ground  drawings  made  on  the 
occasion  of  various  totemic  cere- 
monies   of    the    Australian  tribes 


(Spencer  and  Gillen,  Northern  Tribes 
of  Central  Australia ,  239  sq.) 

^  Miss  Fletcher  in  Proc.  Amer, 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.j  xliv  (1895),  281. 

^  Dorsey  in  Eleventh  Ann.  Rep, 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  430. 

^  Mooney  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  307. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES 


into  the  Society  of  the  Mide  constitute  what  is  to  them 
a  religion,  even  more  powerful  and  impressive  than  the 
Christian  religion  is  to  the  average  civilized  man/'  ^ 
The  winter  ceremonials  of  the  Kwakiutl,  Koskimo,  and 
other  tribes  are  in  close  connection  with  the  tribal 
traditions  and  mythology.  It  seems  probable  that  the 
myths  explaining  these  winter  ceremonials  were  of 
gradual  accretion,  and  grew  up  ''to  explain  and  develop  a 
ritual  which  originally  consisted  only  of  disconnected 
dances/'  ^ 

These  Indian  fraternities  look  back  to  a  divine  founder, 
whose  worship  is  maintained  in  the  societies  he  organized. 
According  to  the  Ojibwa  legends,  the  Medewiwin  was 
founded  by  Minabozho,  the  servant  of  Dzhe  Manidoy  the 
Good  Spirit.  Minabozho  first  presented  the  secret  rites  to 
the  otter,  who  thereupon  gave  them  to  his  kinsmen,  the 
ancestors  of  the  Ojibwa.  The  ceremonials  were .  intended 
by  Dzhe  Manido  to  protect  his  Indian  children  from  sick- 
ness and  death. ^  Sia  societies  were  originated  by  the  gods 
who  gave  to  the  organization  "secrets  for  the  healing  of  the 
sick.''  ^  Poshaiankia  taught  the  ancestors  of  the 

Zuni,  Taos,  and  other  Pueblo  Indians  their  agriculture  and 
systems  of  worship;  and,  after  organizing  the  secret  societies, 
disappeared  from  the  world.  But  he  is  still  "the  con- 
scious auditor  of  the  prayers  of  his  children,  the  invisible 
ruler  of  the  spiritual  Shipapulima^  and  of  the  lesser  gods 
of  the  medicine  orders,  the  principal  'Finisher  of  the  Paths 
of  our  Lives.'"  ^  Each  Hopi  society  also  looks  back  to  its 
ancestral  divinity.^ 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  members  of  these 
fraternities  is  the  healing  of  the  sick.  The  close  relation- 
ship which  the  members  are  believed  to  have  with  the  spirits 
gives  them  much  consideration  as  workers  in  magic.  Part 


^  Hoffman,  ibid.,  151. 

^  Boas  in  Jour.  Amer.  Geogr.  Soc, 
xxviii  (1896),  242-243. 

^  For  the  complete  legend,  cf. 
Hoffman  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.y    166-167,    175;  the 


Menomini  legend,  id.y  Fourteenth 
Ann.  Rep.,  87  sq. 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Eleventh  Ann, 
Rep.,  69. 

^  Gushing  in  Second  Ann.  Rep.,  16. 

®  Fewkes  in  Nineteenth  Ann.  Rep,, 
998. 


i8o         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


of  the  initiatory  training  consists  in  the  study  of  the  tradi- 
tional pharmacopoeia  of  the  society.  The  behef  in  the 
mysterious  powers  of  the  members  is  illustrated  by  the  com- 
mon custom  of  the  Midewiwin  and  Mitawit  societies  of 
initiating  a  child  who  has  been  under  the  charge  of  the 
healers.  The  patient  is  brought  into  the  sacred  structure, 
or  lodge,  where  the  evil  manidos  can  be  expelled  from  the 
body.  If  the  child  is  restored  to  health,  he  is  regarded  as 
a  regularly  initiated  member,  though  additional  instruction 
is  always  given  him  when  he  reaches  maturity.^  At 
Sia  an  adult  or  a  child  may  join  a  society  after  being 
restored  to  health  by  a  theurgist.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
new  year,  the  cult  societies  hold  synchronal  ceremonies  for 
four  days  and  nights,  when  the  fetish  medicines  are  prepared. 
Those  who  possess  real  or  imagined  diseases  gather  in  the 
chamber  of  the  society  of  which  they  are  members,  and 
receive  treatment  from  the  theurgists.^  Nearly  all  of  the 
Sia  societies  are  divided  into  two  or  more  orders;  as  candi- 
dates pass  through  them  they  are  instructed  in  various 
medicinal  arts.  In  the  Snake  Society  the  candidate  must 
pass  through  three  degrees  before  the  great  privilege  of 
handling  the  snakes  in  the  annual  festivities  is  granted.^ 
For  admission  to  the  third  and  last  degrees,  two  years  spent 
in  memorizing  the  songs  are  required.^  Akon- 
warahy  or  the  False-Faces,  a  society  of  masked  men  formerly 
widespread  throughout  the  Iroquois  tribes  of  New  York 
and  Canada,  derived  its  earlier  power  from  the  supposed 
association  of  its  members  with  evil  spirits.  According 
to  the  Iroquois  belief,  certain  spirits  whose  whole  entity  was 
comprehended  in  their  ugly  visages,  were  able  to  bring 
about  various  ailments  and  diseases.  Mr.  Boyle,  who 
recently  found  the  False-Faces  on  the  Grand  River  Reser- 
vation, reports  that  the  secrecy  is  not  now  maintained  in 
anything  like  the  old-fashioned  way;  the  initiatory  rites 
contain  nothing  cruel  or  revolting,  and  the  purpose  of  the 


^  Hoffman  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  281  sq.;  id.,  Fourteenth 
Ann.  Rep. J  68-69. 


^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Eleventh  Ann. 
Rep.,  74,  84,  97  sq.,  113  sq. 
3  Ibid.,  74-75. 
^  Ibid.,  75,  86. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  i8i 


society  IS  simply  that  of  visiting  the  sick  and  making  charms 
for  effecting  cures. ^  The   Tsiahk  of  the  Cape 

Flattery  Indians  is  apparently  purely  a  medical  society 
whose  performances  are  given  w^hen  a  chief  or  member  of 
his  family  is  ill.    The  patient  is  first  initiated.^ 

Most  of  the  North  American  fraternities  have  special'' medi- 
cines/' prepared  w^ith  great  secrecy  and  the  objects  of  much 
reverent  regard.  Those  who  belong  to  the  Witcita^  an  Omaha 
society,  ''have  a  medicine  which  they  use  in  three  w^ays: 
they  rub  it  on  their  bodies  before  going  into  battle;  they 
rub  it  on  bullets  to  make  them  kill  the  foe,  and  they  ad- 
minister it  to  horses,  making  them  smell  it  when  they  are 
about  to  surround  a  buffalo    herd."'  ^  At  Zuni 

pueblo  the  Saniakiakwey  or  Hunting  Order,  has  charge  of 
the  religious  ceremonies  on  the  occasion  of  the  great  mid- 
winter tribal  hunts.  The  sacred  fetishes  in  possession  of 
the  order,  are  taken  out  by  the  members  while  on  the  hunt. 
''It  is  believed  that  without  recourse  to  these  fetishes  or  to 
prayers  and  other  inducements  toward  the  game  animals, 
especially  the  deer  tribe,  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  the 
chase."  ' 

The  magical  powers  wielded  by  fraternity  members  are 
often  used  for  selfish  ends.  Persons  admitted  into  the 
Midewiwin  of  the  Ojibwa  are  believed  to  possess  the  power 
of  communing  with  supernatural  spirits,  —  manidos^  —  and 
in  consequence  they  are  much  sought  after  and  respected. 
The  society  has  the  usual  division  into  degrees,  each  with 
its  elaborate  ritual.  The  higher  degrees  are  reserved  for 
those  able  to  pay  the  costly  initiation  fees  and  to  profit  by 
the  long  preparatory  training  required  of  all  successful 


^  Tenth  Annual  Archceological  Re- 
port of  David  Boyle  to  the  Minister  of 
Education  of  Ontario  (Toronto,  1898), 
157-160;  cf  also  L.  H.  Morgan, 
quoted  by  Dall  in  Third  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.,  144-145;  and  Smith  in 
Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore,  i  (1888), 
187-193.  One  of  these  Flying  Heads, 
or  False-Face  spirits  is  pictured  in 
R.  M.  Dorman,  The  Origin  of  Prim- 


itive Superstitions  (Philadelphia, 
188 1),  frontispiece.  Legends  con- 
nected with  them  are  given  by  Mrs. 
E.  A.  Smith  in  Second  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.,  59-62. 

^  Swan  in  Smithsonian  Contri- 
butions to  Knowledge,  xvi,  73-75. 

^  Dorsey  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.,  349. 

*  Gushing  in  Second  Ann.  Rep.,  39. 


i82         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


aspirants.  For  the  first  degree  the  candidate  must  make 
many  presents  to  his  preceptor.  He  must  also  pass  a 
novitiate  of  several  years  employed  in  collecting  the  pres- 
ents for  the  priests,  v^hich,  v^ith  the  gifts  of  food  for  the 
feasts,  constitute  the  entrance  fees.  The  expensiveness  of 
the  degrees  increases  as  the  candidate  proceeds  higher,  the 
second  degree  requiring  presents  double  the  value  of  those 
offered  for  entrance  to  the  first,  the  third  requiring  three 
times  the  value  of  the  first,  and  similarly  for  the  fourth 
degree.  The  latter  tv^o  degrees  are  rarely  conferred,  owing 
to  their  excessive  cost.  Sometimes  poor  but  ambitious 
candidates  burden  themselves  v^ith  lifelong  debts  in  their 
efforts  to  procure  admission  to  the  society  or  to  rise  through 
the  successive  degrees.  Some  additional  medical  knov^l- 
edge  is  received  in  the  higher  degrees  and  in  general  a 
repetition  of  the  initiation  ceremony  is  supposed  to  add  to 
the  magical  pov^ers  of  the  initiate.^  ^^The  amount  of 
influence  v^ielded  by  Mide  generally,  and  particularly  such 
as  have  received  four  degrees,  is  beyond  belief.  The  rite 
of  the  Midewiwin  ...  is  believed  to  elevate  such  a  Mide 
to  the  nearest  possible  approach  to  the  reputed  character 
of  Minabozhoy  and  to  place  within  his  reach  the  super- 
natural power  of  invoking  and  communing  with  Kitshi 
Manido  himself."  ^ 

Many  of  the  fraternities,  besides  their  medical  functions, 
are  intrusted  with  various  magical  rites  connected  especially 
with  the  ripening  of  the  crops,  the  production  of  rain,  and 
the  multiplication  of  animals  used  for  food.  The  Buffalo 
society  of  the  Omahas,  composed  of  those  who  have  super- 
natural communications  with  buffaloes,  gives  a  great  dance 
and  goes  through  various  ceremonies  ''when  the  corn  is 
withering  for  want  of  rain."  ^     The  Snake  society  of  the 

^  Hoffman  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep.  demonstration   of   the  genuineness 

Bur.  Ethnol.y  164,  204,  221,  224-225,  and  divine  origin  of  the  Midewiwin^^ 

241,   251,   274-275.    His  preceptor  {ibid.,  204).    For  initiation  into  the 

gives  the  novice  much  information  Mitawit  of  the  Menomini  Indians, 

as  to  the   preparation  of  various  see  Hoffman  in    Fourteenth  Ann. 

medicinal   remedies.    Later   in   his  Rep.,  68  sq. 

course  he  learns  how  to  perform  ^  Id.,  Seventh  Ann.  Rep.,  274. 

sleight-of-hand  tricks  "with  which  ^  Dorsey  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.,  3,47- 

to  present  to  the  incredulous  ocular  Other  fraternities  among  the  Omahas 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  183 

Sia  has  most  elaborate  rain  ceremonials.^  The  Ahshi- 
wanni  of  the  Zuni  is  a  priesthood  whose  members  fast  and 
pray  for  rain.^  The  Hopi  have  two  great  groups  of  annual 
ceremonies:  the  Katcinas  coming  from  December  to  July, 
and  the  Unmasked  or  Nine  Days'  ceremonials  during  the 
months  of  August,  September,  October,  and  November.^ 
The  magical  practices  which  form  the  principal  features  of 
these  festivals  have  already  received  attention.^ 

Of  considerable  significance  is  the  survival  in  many  of 
these  American  fraternities  of  initiatory  practices  once 
invariably  associated  with  the  arrival  of  the  clansmen  at 
puberty.  In  one  instance,  found  among  the  Mandans  of 
the  Plains,  the  initiation  of  the  youths  at  manhood  was 
a  most  important  function  of  the  Medicine  Lodge,  the  great 
fraternity  which  existed  in  that  tribe.  The  rites  of  initiation 
in  this  tribe  were  of  a  barbarous  character  not  generally 
found  among  the  Indians,  and  recall  with  great  exactness 
the  initiatory  practices  of  more  savage  peoples.  According 
to  Catlin's  famous  account,  the  Okeepa  was  an  annual 
religious  ceremony  which  had  several  distinct  objects. 
One  was  the  dancing  of  the  bull-dance,  a  magical  practice, 
by  the  strict  performance  of  which  a  supply  of  buffalo  would 
be  secured  for  the  coming  season.  In  the  bull-dance,  the 
performers  were  covered  with  the  skins  of  different  ani- 
mals, the  heads  of  the  latter  serving  as  masks.  The  dancers 
personated  what  were  doubtless  the  totemic  animals  of  their 


are  the  Horse,  Wolf,  and  Grizzly 
Bear.  Members  are  supposed  to 
have  supernatural  communication 
with  the  animals  which  form  the 
tutelary  deities  of  the  society  {ihid., 
348  sq.). 

^  See  the  description  by  Mrs. 
Stevenson  in  Eleventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.y  76  sq. 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Memoirs  of 
the  International  Congress  of  Anthro- 
pology (Chicago,  1894),  315. 

^  Fewkes  in  Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.y  256. 

*  Supraj  156-159. 


Some  of  these  societies  of  the 
Pueblo  Indians  are  phallic  organiza- 
tions with  rites  of  a  character  not 
easily  described.  They  are  all  de- 
voted to  magical  practices.  Com- 
pare the  rites  of  the  Koshare  order 
among  the  Queres  and  other  New 
Mexican  tribes  (Bourke,  Scatalogic 
Rites  of  All  Nations y  9) ;  of  the  Zuni 
Nehue-Cue  {ibid.,  4  sq.;  BandeHer, 
The  Delight  Makers,  44  sq.,  134  sq.) ; 
and  of  the  Hopi  New  Fire  societies 
(Fewkes  in  Amer.  Anthropologist, 
new  series,  i,  1899,  527  w.^;  ii,  1900, 

81). 


i84         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


clans  —  bears,  swans,  wolves  —  and  in  their  performances 
imitated  the  actions  and  habits  of  the  animals  and  chanted 
peculiar  and  appropriate  songs  known  to  the  performers 
alone.  Such  totemic  representations,  like  the  Arunta 
Quabaray  were  the  strictly  guarded  property  of  those  who 
by  initiation  were  entitled  to  give  them.^  A  second  object 
was  ^'for  the  purpose  of  conducting  all  the  young  men  of 
the  tribe,  as  they  annually  arrive  to  the  age  of  manhood, 
through  an  ordeal  of  privation  and  torture,  which,  while 
it  is  supposed  to  harden  their  muscles,  and  prepare  them 
for  extreme  endurance,  enables  the  chiefs  who  are  specta- 
tors to  the  scene,  to  decide  upon  their  comparative  bodily 
strength  and  ability  to  endure  the  extreme  privations  and 
sufferings  that  often  fall  to  the  lots  of  Indian  warriors; 
and  that  they  may  decide  who  is  the  most  hardy  and  best 
able  to  lead  a  war-party  in  case  of  extreme  exigency."  ^ 
At  the  ceremony  witnessed  by  Catlin,  fifty  young  men,  all 
of  whom  had  arrived  at  puberty  during  the  preceding  year, 
were  present  for  initiation.^  Before  the  actual  ordeal  the 
young  men  for  four  days  and  nights  were  strictly  guarded 
in  the  Medicine  Lodge  against  the  approach  or  gaze  of  women, 
"who,  I  was  told,  had  never  been  allowed  to  catch  the 
slightest  glance  of  its  interior.''  ^  During  the  entire  period 
of  their  seclusion  the  candidates  were  not  allowed  to  eat, 
drink,  or  sleep.  Their  bodies  were  covered  with  clay  of 
different  colors  —  red,  yellow,  and  white.  When,  at  last,  the 
greatest  ordeal  was  at  hand,  they  were  taken  to  the  centre 


^  George  Catlin,  O-Kee-Pa  (Lon- 
don,  1867),  18  sq.  For  another  ac- 
count of  this  Buffalo  fraternity,  see 
Catlin  in  Ann.  Rep.  Smithsonian 
Institution  for  188^  (Washington, 
1886),  part  ii,  309-311.  From  this 
account  it  would  appear  that  the 
Buffalo  dance  might  be  held  when- 
ever there  was  danger  of  the  buffalo 
deserting  the  neighborhood  of  the 
camp.  The  dance  once  started  is 
kept  going  night  and  day  until  ''buf- 
falo come."  When  a  dancer  becomes 
fatigued,  he   signifies   the   fact  by 


bending  forward  and  sinking  his 
body  towards  the  ground.  Another 
dancer  then  draws  bow  and  hits  him 
with  a  blunt  arrow.  He  falls  like 
a  buffalo,  is  seized,  dragged  out  of 
the  ring  by  his  heels,  and  symbolically 
is  skinned  and  cut  up. 

^  Id.^  Letters  and  Notes  on  the 
Manners  J  Customs,  and  Condition  of 
the  North  American  Indians  (Lon- 
don, 1841),  i,  157. 

3  Id.,  0-Kee-Pa,  13. 

^  Ibid.,  41. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  185 


of  the  lodge  and  suspended  by  thongs  passed  through  the 
muscles  of  the  breasts  and  shoulders.  Then  they  were 
rapidly  turned  until,  fainting  under  the  torture,  their  life- 
less bodies  were  lowered  to  the  ground.  While  in  this 
condition,  no  one  was  allowed  to  offer  any  aid  to  the  youths. 
''They  were  here  enjoying  their  inestimable  privilege  of 
voluntarily  intrusting  their  lives  to  the  keeping  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  chose  to  remain  there  until  the  Great  Spirit 
gave  them  strength  to  get  up  and  walk  away."  ^  After 
a  partial  recovery,  they  presented  themselves  before  a  masked 
man  who,  with  one  blow  of  his  axe,  cut  off  the  little  finger 
of  the  left  hand.  Sometimes,  we  are  told,  the  candidates 
would  offer  as  an  additional  sacrifice  the  forefinger  of  the 
same  hand.  After  these  ceremonies,  the  novices  were 
taken  out  of  the  lodge,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  entire 
tribe  they  passed  through  further  trials  of  their  endurance. 
In  this  way  the  chiefs  were  able  to  decide  who  were  best 
fitted  to  lead  a  war-party  or  to  occupy  the  other  responsible 
positions  of  a  tribesman.^ 

The  Navajo  ceremonial  of  Hasjelti  Dailjis  is  one  of  the 
most  elaborate  of  the  religious  rites  of  that  tribe.  At  its 
celebration  sometimes  as  many  as  a  thousand  tribesmen 
are  present.  Hasjelti  Dailjis  is  the  dance  of  Hasjelti^ 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  Navajo  gods.  The 
'Mance,"  however,  is  rather  histrionic  than  saltatory, 
constituting,  in  fact,  like  the  Hopi  Snake  Dance,  an  impos- 
ing festival.  Its  magical  purpose  is  that  of  a  medicine 
dance,  and  it  is  held  for  the  purpose  of  curing  distinguished 
men  able  to  afford  the  expense  of  supporting  the  performers 
and  their  retinue  during  the  celebration.  In  the  ceremonial 
witnessed  by  Mr.  James  Stevenson  in  1885,  the  numerous 
participants  in  the  dance  personified  the  various  gods,  and 
with  most  scrupulous  exactness  went  through  an  elaborate 


^  Catlin,  ibid.,  28.  In  the  Chey- 
enne ceremonies  which  otherwise 
resemble  those  of  the  Mandans,  the 
suspension  of  the  youths  by  thongs 
passed  through  the  pectoral  muscles 
is  a  private  ordeal  which  takes  place 


apart  from  the  camp.  The  youth  is 
left  alone  and  without  food  or  water, 
until  he  succeeds  in  breaking  loose 
(Dodge,  The  Plains  of  the  Great  West, 
257-260). 

2  Catlin,  0-Kee-Pa,  29,  31. 


i86         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


ritual.  On  the  eighth  day  of  the  celebration,  the  children 
of  the  tribe  who  were  present  were  initiated  into  some  of 
the  mysteries.  All  the  boys  and  girls  between  five  and  ten 
years  of  age  were  taken  into  the  secret  lodge,  where  they 
received  what  must  have  been  a  painful  chastisement,  the 
boys  being  whipped  with  the  needles  of  the  Spanish  bayonet. 
If  this  ordeal  was  bravely  borne,  the  children  were  then 
suddenly  confronted  with  the  masked  men  of  the  order, 
into  the  mystery  of  which  they  had  never  before  been  al- 
lowed to  penetrate.  ''Up  to  this  time  they  were  supposed 
never  to  have  had  a  close  view  of  the  masks  or  to  have  in- 
spected anything  pertaining  to  their  religious  ceremonies. 
...  At  the  close  of  this  ceremony  the  representatives  of 
the  gods  removed  their  masks  and  called  upon  the  children 
to  raise  their  heads.  The  amazement  depicted  upon  the 
faces  of  the  children  when  they  discovered  their  own  people 
and  not  gods,  afforded  much  amusement  to  the  spectators." 
After  initiation,  the  children  were  permitted  to  enter  the  lodge 
and  see  the  masks  and  the  sand  paintings.^  The 
Night  Chant  is  another  of  these  Navajo  rites,  performed 
not  only  for  the  curing  of  disease,  but  also  to  secure 
abundant  rains,  good  crops,  and  other  blessings.  "Nearly 
all  the  important  characters  of  the  Navajo  pantheon  are 
named  in  its  myths,  depicted  in  its  paintings,  or  represented 
by  its  masqueraders."  ^  Not  until  after  a  formal  initiation 
is  a  Navajo  privileged  to  enter  the  medicine  lodge  during 
the  performance  of  the  rite.  To  obtain  the  highest  privi- 
leges of  the  order,  he  must  go  through  the  ceremony  of 
initiation  four  times;  it  is  not  until  one  "has  submitted 
himself  for  the  fourth  time  to  the  flagellation  that  he  is 
permitted  to  wear  the  masks  and  personate  the  gods."  ^ 
Though  some  individuals  neglect  their  initiation  until 
after  they  reach  maturity,  the  rite  is  usually  undergone 
during  childhood.  Initiation  consists  chiefly  in  the  pres- 
entation of  the  novices  before  the  dreadful  Teiy  the  buga- 
boos of  the  Navajo  children.    Up  to  the  time  of  initiation 

^  Stevenson  in  Eighth  Ann,  Rep.  *  Matthews  in  Mem.  Amer.  Mus. 

Bur.  Ethnol.,  265  sq.  Nat.  Hist.,  vi  (1902),  4. 

3  Ibid.,  119. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  187 


they  are  taught  to  beheve  that  the  masked  Tei  are  genuine 
abnormal  creatures.  Instead  of  corporal  punishment,  a 
Navajo  mother  substitutes  a  threat  of  the  vengeance  of  these 
masked  characters,  should  her  children  be  disobedient. 
But  w^hen  they  are  old  enough  to  understand  the  value  of 
initiation  they  are  taken  to  the  medicine  lodge,  and,  after 
preliminary  chastisements,  they  learn  that  the  dreadful 
Tei  are  only  their  intimate  friends  or  relations  in  disguise. 
After  initiation,  they  are  privileged  to  enter  the  lodge  during 
the  performance  of  the  Night  Chant. ^ 

The  Sia  Indians  of  New  Mexico  have  the  Katsuna  society, 
the  members  of  which  wear  masks  and  personate  th^  Kat- 
suna, The  latter  are  mythological  creations,  having  human 
bodies  and  monster  heads.  They  accompanied  the  ances- 
tors of  the  Sia  to  this  world,  and  ever  since  that  time  they 
are  believed  to  have  had  much  influence  with  the  cloud 
people  who  bripg  rain  and  snow.  Katsuna  performances 
are,  therefore,  like  the  Hopi  Katctnasy  of  a  magical  character. 
Both  sexes  are  initiated.  The  uninitiated  believe  that  these 
masked  personators  are  the  actual  Katsuna  divinities.  When 
the  boys  and  girls  are  ten  to  twelve  years  of  age,  and  "have 
a  good  head,"  they  are  initiated.  The  Katsuna  each  carry 
a  bunch  of  Spanish  bayonet,  with  which  to  chastise  the  boys 
and  girls.  After  this  preliminary  ordeal  the  Katsuna  raise 
their  masks  and  say  to  the  children,  "'Now  you  know  the 
Katsuna  you  will  henceforth  have  only  good  thoughts  and 
a  good  heart;  sometime,  perhaps  you  will  be  one  of  us. 
You  must  not  speak  of  these  things  to  anyone  not  initiated."'^ 

No  Zuni  child  above  the  age  of  four  years  may,  after 
death,  enter  the  Kiva  of  the  Kokko  ancestral  gods,  unless 
during  his  lifetime  he  has  been  initiated  into  the  society 
of  the  Kokko  and  has  received  the  sacred  breath  of  the  gods. 
"Those  who  personate  the  Kokko  are  endowed  for  the  time 
being  with  their  actual  breath."^  The  personators  are 
young  men  who  mask  themselves  in  the  Kivas  of  the  socie- 

^  Matthews  in  Mem.  Amer.  Mus.  ^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Fifth  Ann. 
Nat.  Hist.,  vi  (1902),  117  sq.  Rep,  Bur.  EthnoL,  548. 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Eleventh  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  EthnoL,  33,  116-118. 


i88         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


ties.  The  ceremonies  of  initiation  are  supposed  to  be  "in 
direct  obedience  to  the  orders  and  instructions  given  at 
the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the  Kokko  upon  the  earth, 
and  their  masks  are  counterparts  of  the  original  or  spiritual 
Kokko.'' ^  The  first  or  involuntary  initiation  occurs  every 
four  years;  the  vovs^s  are  made  by  sponsors  for  the  child, 
w^ho  then  assumes  his  regular  tribal  name.  Previous  to 
initiation  he  is  know^n  only  as  a  baby  boy,  younger  boy,  or 
older  boy,  as  the  case  may  be.  The  child  is  taken  to  the 
Kiva  and  there  undergoes  a  severe  w^hipping,  but  he  does 
not  flinch  under  the  ordeal.  A  fast  for  four  days  completes 
the  preliminary  initiation.^  The  second  or  voluntary  initia- 
tion occurs  at  an  annual  ceremonial.  Though  an  optional 
rite,  ''the  father  and  the  godfather  do  not  fail  to  impress 
upon  the  boy  the  importance  of  the  second  initiation."^  At 
this  ceremony  the  novices  are  again  severely  w^hipped  and  if 
they  bravely  bear  the  ordeal,  the  Kokko  floggers  lift  their  masks 
and  reveal  their  identity.  Then  the  lads  are  taken  before 
the  Zuni  High  Priest  who  gives  them  a  lecture,  ''instructing 
them  in  some  of  the  secrets  of  the  order,  v^hen  they  are  told 
if  they  betray  the  secrets  confided  to  them,  they  v^ill  be  pun- 
ished by  death;  their  heads  v^ill  be  cut  off^  v^ith  a  stone 
knife;  for  so  the  Kokko  has  ordered."^  This  discourse 
concluded,  each  child  "goes  to  the  godfather's  house, 
where  his  head  and  hands  are  bathed  in  yucca  suds  by  the 
mother  and  sisters  of  the  godfather,  they  repeating  prayers 
that  the  youth  may  be  true  to  his  vows,  etc.  The  boy  then 
returning  to  his  own  home  is  tested  by  his  father,  who  says, 
'You  are  no  longer  ignorant,  you  are  no  longer  a  little  child, 
but  a  young  man.    Were  you  pleased  with  the  words  of 


^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.j  547.  For  the  legend, 
see  541  sq.  ^'To  the  Indian  mind 
famihar  with  the  traditions  of  his 
tribe,  these  personifications  have  a 
deep  significance  in  the  early  history 
of  the  race.  The  dress,  style  of 
ornamentation,  and  character  of  the 
dance  are  said  to  be  very  old,  and 
clinging  as  the  aboriginal  mind  does 


to  conservatism  in  religious  beliefs, 
one  can  well  believe  that  these  dances 
are  the  least  modified  of  all  their 
manners  and  customs  (Fewkes  in 
Jour.  Amer.  Ethnol.  and  Archceol.,  i 
(1891),  21-22). 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Fifth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. ^  549  sq. 

'  I^id.,  553. 

'  Ibid.,  554. 


MAGICAL  FRATERNITIES  189 


the  Kokko?  What  did  the  priest  tell  you?'  The  boy 
does  not  forget  himself  and  reveal  anything  that  was  said, 
for  the  terror  overhanging  him  is  too  great."  ^ 

In  the  Powamu  festival,  one  of  the  great  Katcina  rites 
of  the  Hopi  villagers,  the  children  are  subjected  to  ordeals 
which  resemble  those  described  as  existing  among  the 
Navajo,  Sia,  and  Zuni  Indians.  Tunwupkatcina^  arrayed 
in  all  his  paraphernalia  and  carrying  a  yucca  whip  in  his 
hand,  receives  the  frightened  children  as  their  godfathers 
bring  them  before  him.  The  whipping  once  over,  the  nov- 
ices are  compelled  to  abstain  from  flesh  and  salt  for  four 
days.  After  this  they  may  look  without  danger  upon  the 
Katcina  masks  and  other  sacred  objects  in  the  Kivas,  They 
may  now  learn  the  Katcina  songs,  and  themselves  act  as 
Katcinas,  Previous  to  initiation  the  children  are  never 
allowed  to  see  an  unmasked  Katcina;  they  are  taught  to 
believe  that  the  masked  personages  appearing  in  the  dances 
are  superhuman  visitors.^  At  a  later  period  the  children 
are  initiated  into  one  of  the  four  Hopi  fraternities  known 
as  Agave  {Kwan)^  Horn  (Ahl)y  Singers  (Tataokani)y  and 
fF owochtmtu,^ 


After  so  long  an  occupation  with  the  rites  of  savage  and 
barbarous  peoples,  it  would  be  tempting,  did  space  allow, 
to  turn  to  the  mysteries  of  classical  antiquity  and  to  dis- 
close in  the  rites  of  the  Eleusinia  and  Thesmophoriaj  the 
dimly  veiled  survivals  of  an  earlier  and  a  ruder  age.  For 


^  Mrs.  Stevenson,  loc.  cit. 

2  Fewkes  in  Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  EthnoL,  284  sq.  For  a  fuller 
description  of  the  Powamu  initiation, 
see  Voth  in  Publications  of  the  Field 
Columbian  Museum,  Anthropological 
Series,  iii,  no.  2  (1901),  88  sq. 

^  The  obscure  word  Wowochimtu 
means  probably  the  fraternity  of 
grown  men."  Boys  once  initiated 
are  no  longer  ^'boys,"  but  young 
men."  During  the  great  Wowochim 
ceremony,  ^^initiations  into  the  Agave, 


Horn,  and  Singers'  societies  also 
take  place,  the  significance  of  all 
being  the  same:  initiation  from  boy- 
hood into  manhood,  and  while  the 
Wowochimtu  is  a  distinct  fraternity, 
of  which  the  Horn,  Agave,  and  Singer 
men  are  not  members,  the  latter 
sometimes  call  the  initiations  into 
their  respective  orders  in  a  general 
way  initiations  into  the  W owochimtu.'^ 
(Dorsey  and  Voth  in  Publications  of  the 
Field  Columbian  Museum,  Anthropo- 
logical Series,  iii,  1900,  no.  i,  10  n.). 


igo         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

the  magical  practices  and  dramatic  ceremonies  afterward 
elaborated  into  the  ritual  of  a  solemn  religious  cult,  which 
were  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  Greek  mysteries,  may 
be  traced  by  the  curious  student  to  primitive  rites  in  no 
wise  dissimilar  to  those  which,  as  we  have  seen,  embody 
the  faith  and  worship  of  the  modern  savage.  Omnia  exeunt 
in  mysterium  !  ^ 


^  The  survival  of  death  and  resur- 
rection ideas  and  of  other  primitive 
conceptions  and  practices  in  the 
Thesmophoria,  or  mysteries  of  De- 
meter,  has  been  discussed  by  Andrew 
Lang  in  Myth,  Ritual,  and  Religion 
(London,  1899),  ii,  286  sq.  On  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries  in  the  same  con- 
nection, see  Myth,  Ritual,  and  Reli- 
gion, i,  270  sq.,  and  Count  Goblet 
d^Alviella^s  articles  in  Rev.  Hist. 
Relig.,  xlvi  (1902),  nos.  2  and  3; 
xlvii  (1903),  nos.  i  and  2;  id.y 
Eleusinia:    de   quelques  problemes 


relatifs  aux  Mysteres  d^Eleusis  (Paris, 
1903).  Some  of  the  likenesses  be- 
tween the  classical  mysteries  and 
those  of  primitive  peoples  are  also 
discussed  by  Achelis,  ^^Geheimbiinde 
und  Pubertatsweihen  im  Lichte  der 
Ethnologie,"  in  Ausland,  Ixv  (1892), 
529-534;  and  by  Howitt  in  Rep. 
Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  iii  (Sidney, 
1890),  347-348.  On  the  Mithraic 
mysteries  in  this  light,  see  C.  S.  Wake, 
The  Evolution  of  Morality  (London, 
1878),  ii,  chap.  vi. 


CHAPTER  XI 


diffusion  of  initiation  ceremonies 
1.  Australia 

Over  the  wide  expanse  of  the  AustraHan  continent  two 
great  types  of  initiation  rites  prevail.  These  are  the  Bora  ^ 
ceremonies  of  the  tribes  occupying  the  eastern  coast  and 
the  interior  westward  throughout  the  greater  portion  of 
Victoria,  New  South  Wales,  and  Queensland;  and  what 
we  may  for  convenience  call  the  Apulia  ^  ceremonies  of 
the  central  and  western  tribes  which  range  over  more  than 
half  the  continent.  Among  the  latter  tribes  initiation  cere- 
monies exist  of  much  greater  complication  than  those  of 
the  eastern  tribes.  Broadly  speaking,  the  best  line  of  de- 
marcation seems  to  be  the  presence  or  absence  of  subincision 
as  the  leading  feature  in  the  rites.  On  the  basis  of  the 
careful  studies  and  maps  of  Mr.  R.  H.  Mathews,^  it  becomes 
possible  to  fix  with  substantial  accuracy  the  boundaries  of 
the  tribes  having  ceremonies  of  either  the  Bora  or  Apulia 
type.  A  line  drawn  from  Cape  Jervis  at  St.  Vincent's 
Gulf,  South  Australia,  and  continued  in  a  northeasterly 


^  The  name  Bora  is  usually 
derived  from  ^^bor"  or  ^^boor,"  the 
belt  of  manhood  conferred  upon  the 
novice  at  the  Kamilaroi  celebration 
(Ridley,  Kamilaroi  and  other  Aus- 
tralian Languages,  156).  Mackenzie 
says,  ^'It  is  called  the  ^boorah'  or 
place  of  the  ^boorr'  because  the 
boorr,  or  belt,  is  used  in  the  incanta- 
tions" {Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  vii, 
1878,  244).  Bora  is  the  Kamilaroi 
name  for  the  initiation  ceremonies 


which  among  other  eastern  tribes  are 
known  as  Bunan,  Burhong,  Keeparra, 
Toara,  etc. 

2  Among  the  Arunta,  Apulia  is 
the  term  applied  to  the  ground  where 
the  ceremony  of  circumcision  takes 
place  (Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  646). 

^  Proc.  Amer.  Philos.  Soc,  xxxvii 
(1898),  327  sq.;  xxxix  (1900),  93, 
577;  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New 
South  Wales,  xxxii  (1898),  241  sq. 


IQI 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


direction  through  New  South  Wales  and  then  northerly 
through  Queensland  to  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria,  separates 
the  tribes  which  practise  circumcision  from  those  that  do 
not.  East  of  this  line  Bora  ceremonies,  in  which  the  prin- 
cipal rite  is  either  evulsion  of  teeth  or  depilation,  prevail. 
Between  this  and  a  second  line  which  begins  at  Port  Augusta, 
at  the  head  of  Spencer  Gulf,  South  Australia,  and  then  con- 
tinues in  a  northerly  direction  until  it  joins  the  first  line  at 
Longreach,  Queensland,  is  the  area  occupied  by  the  tribes 
which  practise  circumcision  alone.  The  ceremonies  of 
these  tribes  may  be  described  as  a  mixture  of  Bora  and 
Apulia  rites.  Extending  in  a  westward  direction  from  this 
second  line  is  the  large  area  occupied  by  the  tribes  which 
possess  the  Apulia  rites  and  practise  both  circumcision  and 
subincision.  Beyond  a  line  drawn  from  Cape  Arid  on  the 
Great  Australian  Bight  to  North  West  Cape  on  Plymouth 
Gulf,  neither  of  these  rites  has  been  observed. 

Considering  the  general  homogeneity  of  the  Australian 
race  in  physical  characteristics  and  in  mental  and  social 
development,  it  is  remarkable  that  such  wide  divergences 
in  initiation  practices  should  be  observed  among  them.  As 
compared  with  the  ceremonies  of  the  eastern  tribes,  initia- 
tions of  the  Apulia  type  are  certainly  far  more  elaborate. 
Bora  ceremonies  are  held  at  infrequent  intervals  and  at 
them  it  is  customary  to  initiate  a  number  of  candidates 
together.  Though  their  presence  at  succeeding  Boras  is 
commonly  required,  the  novices  usually  become  full  mem- 
bers of  the  tribe  by  the  one  initiatory  ceremony.  Among 
the  Arunta  and  other  central  tribes,  it  is  not  usual  to  operate 
on  more  than  one,  or  at  most  two,  novices  at  the  same  time ;  ^ 
as  a  consequence  initiations  must  be  held  with  considerable 
frequency.  Candidates  do  not  become  fully  initiated  tribes- 
men until  a  number  of  ordeals,  coming  at  different  intervals 
and  lasting  until  the  initiates  are  men  of  mature  years, 
have  been  successfully  undergone.  Rites  like  nose-boring 
and  evulsion  of  teeth,  which  form  the  leading  features  of 
Bora  ceremonies,  among  the  Arunta  and  other  central  and 
northern  tribes,  are  neither  sacred  nor  secret  and  are  prac- 

^  Spencer  and  Gillen,      ci/.,  218. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  193 


tised  by  men  and  women  alike.  Their  place  as  secret  rites 
is  taken  by  circumcision,  subincision,  and  the  Engwura 
ceremonies,  though  they  still  persist  as  vestigial  customs/ 
Among  the  Queensland  tribes  studied  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Roth, 
both  evulsion  of  teeth  and  cicatrization  are  independent  of 
the  initiation  ceremonial.^  Thus  customs  once  common 
to  central  and  eastern  tribes  have  been  retained  only  by 
the  latter.  These  Arunta  ceremonies,  in  particular,  show 
the  results  of  long  elaboration  under  peaceful  conditions. 
The  isolation  of  the  tribe,  the  circumstance  that  it  is  not 
engaged  in  constant  warfare  at  its  borders,  and  the  further 
circumstance  that  it  has  given  up  cannibalism  (still  prac- 
tised in  Queensland),  lead  one  to  believe  that  this  tribe  has 
advanced  further  in  civilization  than  its  neighbors.  Cer- 
tainly the  Arunta  elders  appear  to  have  employed  their 
leisure  in  the  elaboration  of  tribal  customs  to  a  greater  com- 
plexity than  is  elsewhere  exhibited  on  the  continent. 

On  the  theory  that  the  Tasmanians  now  extinct  were  the 
remnants  of  a  Nigritic  race  which  once  peopled  Australia, 
it  is  possible,  as  Mr.  H.  L.  Roth  suggests,  that  an  invading 
race  may  have  adopted  some  of  the  customs  of  the  earlier 
inhabitants.^  Initiation  ceremonies  among  other  customs 
may  have  been  so  borrowed  or  at  least  modified  by  contact 
with  the  aboriginal  inhabitants.  On  this  hypothesis  the 
southeastern  Australian  tribes  representing  the  first  invaders 
ought  to  possess  the  most  archaic  customs,  and  these  ought, 
of  all  the  Australian  initiation  ceremonies,  to  show  most 
likeness  to  those  of  the  Tasmanians.  Unfortunately,  we 
know  so  little  of  the  Tasmanian  rites  that  all  comparison 
must  at  best  be  fragmentary.  What  evidence  we  have 
indicates  that  Tasmanian  initiations,  if  not  actually  in  decay, 
were  of  a  much  simpler  character  than  those  now  generally 
practised  on  the  mainland.  Reference  has  already  been 
made  to  the  apparent  decline  of  initiatory  rites  among  the 
Victorian  tribes.    Circumcision,  practised  by  the  peoples 

^  Spencer    and    Gillen,    Native         ^  Ethnological  Studies  among  the 

Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  ii8  n},  North-West-Central  Queensland  Aho- 

213,  217-218,    450-459;    Northern  rigines,  170. 

Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  589  sq.  ^  Aborigines  of  Tasmania,  227. 

o 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


of  the  south  and  east  coast  of  New  Guinea,  may  have  been 
introduced  by  an  invading  race  v^hich  came  from  that 
direction.  Subincision  is  undoubtedly  a  native  AustraHan 
development,  for  its  like  is  not  to  be  found  outside  the  con- 
tinent. Arunta  traditions  indicate  its  introduction  as  sub- 
sequent to  circumcision.^  In  the  light  of  these  considera- 
tions it  seems  at  least  possible  that  the  ceremonies  of  those 
central  and  northern  tribes  w^hich  practise  both  circumcision 
and  subincision,  are  the  least  primitive  of  all  the  Australian 
rites.  On  this  hypothesis  they  may  represent  the  elaboration 
and  development  of  earlier  rites  once  possessed  in  common 
by  the  various  divisions  of  the  Australian  race.^ 


^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  402. 
The  operation  itself  is  known  by  many 
different  terms:  Sturt's  ''terrible 
rite,"  whistling,  artificial  hypospa- 
dias, kulpi  (its  Dieri  name),  intro- 
cision,  and  subincision.  For  the 
operation  and  its  results,  see  the  paper 
by  T.  P.  A.  Stuart,  professor  of 
physiology  in  the  University  of 
Sidney,  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc. 
New  South  Wales,  xxx  (1896),  115- 
123;  and  the  description  by  Mik- 
lucho-Maclay  in  Zeits.  f.  Ethnol.,  xiv 
(1882),  27-29.  Eyre,  who  seems  to 
have  been  the  first  to  suggest  a  neo- 
Malthusian  purpose  for  the  custom 
(Journals  of  Expeditions  of  Discovery 
into  Central  Australia,  i,  212-213,  ii, 
332),  was  followed  by  a  number  of 
other  writers  who  succeeded  in 
popularizing  this  entirely  erroneous 
impression.  There  is  no  evidence 
that  the  operation  Kmits  or  prevents 
procreation.  See  the  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  such  competent  observers 
as  Roth,  Ethnological  Studies,  1 79  sq. ; 
Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native  Tribes  of 
Central  Australia,  264;  Northern 
Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  329-330; 
and  Mathews  in  Jour,  and  Proc.  Roy.^ 
Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xxxi  (1897), 
pp.  xxvii-xxviii. 

^  For  some  early  accounts  of  in- 
itiation rites  chiefly  in  New  South 


Wales,  see  David  Collins,  An  Account 
of  the  English  Colony  in  New  South 
Wales  (London,  1804),  365-374; 
John  Turnbull,  A  Voyage  round  the 
World  (London,  1805),  i,  85;  James 
Montgomery,  Journal  of  Voyages 
and  Travels  by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Tyer- 
man  and  George  Bennet,  Esq.  (Lon- 
don, 183 1),  ii,  155-156;  John  Hen- 
derson, Observations  on  the  Colonies 
of  New  South  Wales  and  Van  Die- 
men'' s  Land  (Calcutta,  1832),  145  sq.; 
W.  H.  Breton,  Excursions  in  New 
South  Wales,  Western  Australia,  and 
Van  Dieman^s  Land  (London,  1833), 
232-234;  T.  L.  Mitchell,  Three 
Expeditions  into  the  Interior  of  East- 
ern Australia  (London,  1838),  ii,  339- 
340;  (Sir)  George  Grey,  Journals  of 
Two  Expeditions  of  Discovery  in 
North-West  and  Western  Australia 
(London,  1841),  ii,  343  sq.;  E.  J. 
Eyre,  Journals  of  Expeditions  of  Dis- 
covery into  Central  Australia  (Lon- 
don, 1845),  ii,  332-340;  G.  F.  Angas, 
Savage  Life  and  Scenes  in  Australia 
and  New  Zealand  (London,  1847), 
i,  113-116;  ii,  222-224;  J.  D.  Lang, 
Queensland  (London,  1861),  342  sq.; 
Oldfield  in  Trans.  Ethnol.  Soc,  new 
series,  iii  (1865),  252-253. 

Various  numbers  of  the  Science 
of  Man  and  Australian  Anthrop- 
ological Journal  contain  brief  accounts 
of   initiation   ceremonies  witnessed 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  195 


11.  Tasmania 

There  is  some  evidence  for  the  existence  of  manhood 
rites  among  the  Tasmanians.    Bonwick,  who  made  diHgent 


by  early  settlers:  vol.  i,  83-84,  97-98, 
115-117;  and  vol.  i,  new  series,  7-1 1, 
85;  ii,  145,  148;  iii,  115;  and  iv,  62- 
63.  The  personal  narrative  of  Mr. 
Honery  is  reproduced  by  William 
Ridley,  Kdmilaroi  and  other  Aus- 
tralian Languages  (Sidney,  1875), 
154.  Cf.  also  Mackenzie  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  vii  (1878),  251-252. 

Some  information  of  varying  ac- 
curacy is  summarized  in  the  com- 
pilations by  R.  B.  Smyth,  The 
Aborigines  of  Victoria  (Melbourne, 
1878),  i,  58-75;  George  Taplin,  The 
Folklore,  Manners,  Customs,  and 
Languages  of  the  South  Australian 
Aborigines  (Adelaide,  1879),  41  sq., 
79  sq.,  99  sq.;  J.  D.  Woods,  The 
Native  Tribes  of  South  Australia 
(Adelaide,  1879),  xxviii  sq.,  15  sq., 
162  sq.,  226  sq.^  267  sq.;  James  Daw- 
son, Australian  Aborigines  (Mel- 
bourne, 1881),  30;  E.  M.  Curr,  The 
Australian  Race  (Melbourne,  1886- 
1887),  i,  71-76;  see  also  vol.  iii, 
index,  under  ^'Circumcision." 

Recent  years  have  witnessed  great 
accretions  to  our  knowledge  of  these 
Australian  ceremonies,  and  they  are 
to-day  the  best  known  of  those  of  any 
primitive  people.  For  the  Bora  cere- 
monies, chief  reliance  must  be  placed 
on  the  admirable  studies  by  Mr.  A. 
W.  Howitt  and  Mr.  R.  H.  Mathews. 
Mr.  Howitt  as  an  initiated  tribesman 
has  written  ''On  Some  AustraKan 
Ceremonies  of  Initiation,"  Jour.  An- 
throp. Inst.,  xiii  (1884),  432-459; 
"The  Jeraeil,  or  Initiation  Cere- 
monies of  the  Kurnai  Tribes,"  ibid., 
xiv  (1885),  301-325,  and  has  sum- 
marized his  discoveries  in  an  address 
published  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  \\i  (Sidney,  1891),  343-351.  ^  An 
earlier  account  of  the  Kurnai  in- 


itiation is  given  by  the  same  writer 
in  Kdmilaroi  and  Kurnai  (Mel- 
bourne, 1880),  192-199.  In  The 
Native  Tribes  of  South-East  Australia 
(London,  1904),  509-677,  Mr.  Howitt 
has  elaborated  his  preliminary  ar- 
ticles and  has  added  much  new 
matter  of  great  value.  Mr.  Mathews 
in  a  long  series  of  careful  studies  has 
described  and  classified  the  principal 
ceremonies  of  the  different  tribes  of 
Victoria,  New  South  Wales,  Queens- 
land, and  South  AustraHa.  A  list 
of  these  articles  with  the  particular 
parts  of  Australia  to  which  they  apply 
is  given  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos.  Soc, 
xxxvii  (1898),  66-69.  Later  articles 
by  the  same  author  are  to  be  found  in 
Amer.  Anthropologist,  xi  (1898),  325- 
343;  ibid.,  new  series,  ii  (1900),  139- 
144;  ibid.,  iii  (1901),  337-341 ;  Proc. 
Amer.  Philos.  Soc,  xxxix  (1900), 
570-573;  ibid.,  622-638;  Jour, 
and  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  New  South 
Wales,  xxxiv  (1900),  262-281;  and 
V Anthropologic,  xiii  (1902),  233-240. 
The  writings  of  Mr.  John  Fraser  may 
also  be  referred  to:  Jour,  and  Proc. 
Roy.  Soc.  New  South  Wales,  xvi 
(1882),  204-220;  id.,  Jour,  of  Trans. 
Vict.  Inst.,  xxii  (1889),  155-181;  id., 
The  Aborigines  of  New  South  Wales 
(Sidney,  1892),  6-21.  Mr.  John 
Mathew  in  Eaglehawk  and  Crow 
(London,  1899),  116  sq.,  describes 
some  Bora  rites.  See  also  Mrs. 
K.  L.  Parker's  account.  The  Euah- 
layi  Tribe  (London,  1905),  61-82. 
For  the  Queensland  tribes  our  chief  au- 
thority is  Mr.  W.  E.  Roth,  Ethno- 
logical Studies  among  the  North-West- 
Central  Queensland  Aborigines  (Bris- 
bane, 1897),  169-180.  The  elaborate 
studies  of  Messrs.  Baldwin  Spencer 
and  F.  J.  Gillen,  The  Native  Tribes 


196        PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


inquiries  among  the  old  settlers  of  the  island,  ^believes  that 
the  custom  existed  "more  or  less''  among  the  different 
tribes.^  Circumcision  was  unknown;  scarification  and 
the  extraction  of  teeth  were  the  usual  manhood  rites. ^ 

IIL  Melanesia 

Initiation  ceremonies  have  been  observed  among  all  the 
widely  scattered  branches  of  the  Melanesian  race;  in  the 
islands  of  East  Malaysia;  in  New  Guinea;  and  throughout 
that  great  island  group  which  extends  from  New  Guinea 
to  the  Fiji  Archipelago.  The  Kakian  Society  of  Ceram 
has  been  elsewhere  described.^  The  Dutch  anthropologist, 
Riedel,  found  traces  of  primitive  puberty  rites  among  the 
aborigines  of  the  island  of  Halamahera.^  Such  rites  have 
also  been  recently  noted  in  Java,^  and  there  is  some  evidence 
for  their  previous  existence  in  Borneo.^ 


of  Central  Australia  (London,  1899), 
212-386,  and  The  Northern  Tribes  of 
Central  Australia  (London,  1904), 
328-374,  are  a  mine  of  information 
for  the  customs  of  important  tribes 
previously  almost  unknown.  The 
ceremonies  of  the  western  Austra- 
lian tribes  have  so  far  received  little 
attention  from  investigators.  Except 
in  the  more  thickly  populated  dis- 
tricts, they  exist  in  a  less  developed 
state  than  elsewhere  on  the  continent. 
See,  however,  Bassett-Smith  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxiii  (1894),  327; 
Froggatt  in  Proc.  Linnean  Soc.  New 
South  Wales,  second  series,  iii  (1888), 
652;  D.  W.  Carnegie,  Spinifex  and 
Sand  (London,  1898),  39  sq.;  Clem- 
ent in  Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr., 
xvi  (1903),  10  sq.;  Hardman  in  Proc. 
Roy.  Irish  Acad.,  third  series,  i  (1888), 
73-74- 

^  James  Bonwick,  Daily  Life  and 
Origin  of  the  Tasmanians  (London, 
1870),  60;  186  sq.,  202  sq. 

^  H.  L.  Roth,  The  Aborigines  of 
Tasmania  (Halifax,  England,  1899), 
115  sq.    Cf.  also  R.  B.  Smyth,  The 


Aborigines  of  Victoria  (Melbourne, 
1878),  ii,  386;  Barnard  in  Rep. 
Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  ii  (Sidney, 
1890),  601 ;  Mathews  in  Proc.  Amer. 
Philos.  Assoc.,  xxxix  (1900),  573- 
574. 

^  The  best  account  is  by  J.  G.  F. 
Riedel,  De  Sluik-en  kroesharige  Ras- 
sen  tusschen  Selebes  en  Papua 
('s-Gravenhage,  1886),  108-111.  See 
also  Van  Rees,  Die  Pioniers  der  Be- 
schaving  in  Neerlands  Indie,  92  sq. ; 
Adolf  Bastian,  Indonesien  (Berlin, 
1884),  part  i,  145-147;  Joest  in 
Verhandl.  Berlin.  Gesell.  f.  Anthrop. 
Ethnol.  u.  Urgeschichte  (1882),  64- 
65;  Schulze,  ibid.  (1877),  117; 
Prochnik  in  Mitth.  k.  k.  Geogr. 
Gesells.  in  Wien,  xxxv  (1892),  595- 
598. 

^  Zeits.  f  Ethnol.,  xvii  (1885), 
81-82. 

^  H.  Breitenstein,  Einundzwanzig 
Jahre  in  Indien  (Leipzig,  1899),  i, 
2ig  sq. 

®  A.  R.  Hein,  Die  Bildenden 
Kilnste  bei  den  Dayaks  auf  Borneo 
(Wien,  1890),  35-37. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  197 


In  New  Guinea,  beginning  with  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land, 
we  may  note  the  important  Barium  ceremonieswhich  include 
an  area  along  the  Maclay  coast  from  Huon  Gulf  to  Astro- 
labe Bay,  where  they  are  replaced  by  the  Asa  ceremonies. 
The  linguistic  differences  which  these  coast  tribes  present 
do  not  seem  to  be  perpetuated  in  their  initiation  ceremo- 
nies/ For  British  New  Guinea  the  best  and  most 
recent  account  has  reference  only  to  the  important  Toaripi 
tribes  living  in  the  Elema  district  along  the  coast  between 
Cape  Possession  on  the  east  and  the  Alele  river  on  the  west.^ 
Other  accounts  dealing  with  the  Motumotuans  of  Williams 
river  have  been  given  chiefly  by  the  late  missionary,  the 
Rev.  James  Chalmers.^  West  of  the  Elema  district  initia- 
tion rites  have  been  discovered  in  Kiwai  Island  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Fly  river,^  and  among  the  four  tribes  inhabiting  the 
mouth  of  the  Wanigela  or  Kemp  Welch  river  in  the  Cen- 
tral district  of  British  New  Guinea.^  At  Mowat,  Daudai, 
the  initiation  rites  survive  in  a  degenerate  form.®  In  the 
Mekeo  district,  the  Fulaari  organization  has  police  functions 
closely  resembling  those  of  African  secret  societies.^  Pro- 
fessor A.  C.  Haddon  has  summarized  much  of  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  ceremonies  of  these  Gulf  tribes  in  his  elaborate 
monograph    on    The    Decorative   Art    of    British  New 


^  On  the  ceremonials  of  the  Jabim 
tribes,  see  O.  Schellong,  **Das  Bar- 
lum-Fest  der  Gegend  Finschafens 
(Kaiserwilhelmsland)j"  Intern.  Ar- 
chiv  f.  Ethnogr.,  ii  (1889),  145- 
162;  id.j  Zeits.  f.  EthnoL,  xxi  (1889), 
16-17;  Joachim  Graf  v.  Pfeil, 
Studien  und  Beobachtungen  aus  der 
Sudsee  (Braunschweig,  1899),  315- 
316;  Vetter  in  Nachrichten  iiber 
Kaiser  Wilhelms-Land  und  den  Bis- 
marck-Archipel,  xiii  (1897),  92-93. 
On  the  Asa  ceremonies  of  the  Tamo 
of  Bogadjim,  we  have  the  valuable 
study  by  Bernhard  Hagen,  Unter  den 
Papua's  (Wiesbaden,  1899),  234  sq. 

^  Holmes,  "Initiation  Ceremonies 
of  Natives  of  the  Papuan  Gulf,"  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii  (1902),  418-425. 

^  Edelfeld  in   Picturesque  New 


Guinea  by  J.  W.  Lindt  (London, 
1887),  132  sq.;  Chalmers  in  Rep, 
Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  ii  (Sidney, 
1890),  312-313,  and  more  fully, 
Pioneering  in  New  Guinea  (London, 
1887),  72-74,  85-86,  180-181.  See 
also  H.  H.  Romilly,  The  Western 
Pacific  and  New  Guinea  (London, 
1886),  34;  id.,  From  My  Verandah 
in  New  Guinea  (London,  1899),  88. 

^  Chalmers  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.y  xxxiii  (1903),  119;  Haddon  in 
Rep.  Cambr.  Anthrop.  Expedition  to 
Torres  Straits,  v,  218  sq. 

^  Guise  in  Jour,  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxviii  (1899),  207. 

^  Beardmore  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xix  (1890),  460. 

^  Haddon  in  Geogr.  Jour.,  xvi 
(1900),  420. 


198        PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Guinea}  So  far  as  we  know  there  are  no  initi- 

ation ceremonies  among  the  strictly  Melanesian  races 
of  New  Guinea  which  inhabit  the  southern  coast-Hne 
almost  uninterruptedly  from  Cape  Possession  to  the 
farthest  island  of  the  Louisiades.^  Secret  rites 

are  no  doubt  to  be  found  among  the  tribes  of  Dutch  New 
Guinea.^ 

The  ceremonies  of  the  Torres  Straits  islanders  resemble 
those  found  on  the  New  Guinea  mainland.  Professor 
A.  C.  Haddon,  who  has  made  the  inhabitants  of  these  islands 
a  special  study  since  1888,  as  an  initiated  member  of  the 
Western  Tribe  has  been  able  to  acquire  very  detailed  infor- 
mation regarding  the  ceremonies.^ 

In  the  long  chain  of  islands  stretching  from  New  Guinea 
to  the  southeast,  Melanesian  institutions  have  reached  their 
most  elaborate  development.  Such  important  factors  as 
the  fusion  of  different  oceanic  races,  the  rise  of  definite 
chieftainships,  of  fixed  property  relations,  and  of  a  money 
economy  have  contributed  to  the  growth  in  these  islands  of 
numerous  secret  societies  on  the  basis  of  the  earlier  puberty 
institutions.  The  various  stages  in  this  evolution  may  be 
traced  from  the  great  tribal  society  of  the  Dukduk  to  the 
small  local  associations  so  numerous  in  the  southern  islands. 
The  Dukduk  is  the  best  known  of  these  societies.  It  has 
a  wide  distribution  over  New  Pomerania  (New  Britain), 
New  Mecklenburg  (New  Ireland),  New  Hanover  (Duke 


^  Roy.  Irish  Acad.  Cunningham 
Memoirs,  no.  x  (Dublin,  1894),  104- 
III. 

^  Haddon  in  Science  Progress,  ii 
(1894),  86. 

F.  S.  A.  de  Clercq  and  J.  D.  E. 
Schmeltz,  Ethnogr aphis che  Beschrijv- 
ing  van  de  West-en  Noordkust  van 
Nederlandsch  Nieuw-Guinea  (Leiden, 
i893),t  240-241. 

*  The  ceremonies  performed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  Mer,  one  of  the 
Murray  Island  group  belonging  to  the 
Eastern  Tribe,  Haddon  has  de- 
scribed at  length  in  his  article,  "The 


Secular  and  Ceremonial  Dances  of 
Torres  Straits,"  Intern.  Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr. J  vi  (1893),  140-146;  and 
again  in  Head-Hunters,  Black,  White, 
and  Brown  (London,  1901),  42-52. 
For  other  ceremonies  at  Tud,  Nagir, 
Pulu,  and  Muralug,  see  Jour.  An- 
throp.  Inst.,  xix  (1890),  315,  359  sq., 
408  sq.,  432  sq.;  and  Head-Hunters, 
140,  1 76  sq.  The  latest  information  on 
the  rites  of  the  western  group  of  the 
Torres  Islanders  is  contained  in  the 
Report  of  the  Cambridge  Anthropo- 
logical Expedition  to  Torres  Straits, 
V  (Cambridge,  1904),  208-218. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  199 


of  York  Island),  and  New  Lauenburg.^  The  latter  island 
appears  to  be  the  centre  of  the  society.  Little  is  known  of 
the  Ingiet  society  also  found  in  the  Bismarck  Archipelago.*^ 
Important  initiation  rites  exist  among  the  Sulka,  a  tribe 
of  New  Pomerania.^  On  Rook  Island  between  New  Guinea 
and  New  Pomerania  an  institution  similar  to  the  Dukduk 
seems  to  have  formerly  existed.*  The  Rukruk^  or  Burriy 
of  North  Bougainville  is  obviously  connected  with  the 
Dukduk}  Kokorra^  found  at  Buka,  is  now  in  process  of 
decay. ^  The  Matambala  of  Florida,  one  of  the 

Solomon  Islands,  is  a  form  of  the  QatUy  a  society  widely 
extended  in  the  islands  to  the  south.  The  islands  of  Malanta 
and  Ulawa  probably  contain  similar  mysteries. Secret 
societies  have  also  been  noted  at  Guadalcanar,  another  of 


'  Mr.  H.  H.  Romilly,  Deputy 
Commissioner  for  the  Western  Pacific, 
who  has  lived  for  many  years  among 
Melanesian  peoples,  was  allowed  to 
witness  some  of  the  ceremonies  of 
initiation.  The  Western  Pacific  and 
New  Guinea  (London,  1886),  27-35. 
Cf.  also  his  statements  in  Proc.  Roy. 
Geogr.  Soc,  new  series,  ix  (1887), 
11-12.  William  Churchill,  as  a 
member  by  adoption  of  one  of  the 
New  Britain  families,  was  initiated 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  society, 
*'The  Duk-Duk  Ceremonies,"  Popu- 
lar Science  Monthly ,  xxxviii  (1890), 
236-243.  See  also  Brown  in  Rep. 
Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  vii  (1898), 
780-781;  ibid.,  viii  (1901),  309-310; 
Proc.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc,  new  series,  ix 
(1887),  17;  Danks  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xviii  (1889),  283;  Weisser  in 
Ausland,  Ivi  (1883),  857-858,  and  in 
Verhandl.  d.  Gesellschaft  f.  Erdkunde, 
X  (1883),  291-292;  R.  Parkinson, 
Im  Bismarck- Archipel  (Leipzig, 
1887),  128-134;  Joachim  Graf  von 
Pfeil,  Studien  und  Beohachtungen 
aus  der  Sildsee  (Braunschweig, 
1899),  159-168;  id.,  Duk-Duk 
and  other  Customs  as  Forms  of  Ex- 
pression of  the  Melanesians'  Intel- 
lectual Life,"  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.y 


xxvii  (1897),  181-191;  Wilfred 
Powell,  Wanderings  in  a  Wild 
Country  (London,  1883),  61-66, 
182  sq.;  Schmeltz,  ^^Uber  einige 
religiose  Gebrauche  der  Melanesier," 
Globus,  xH  (1882),  7-10,  24-28,  39- 
41;  Ernst  Tappenbeck,  Deutsch- 
Neuguinea  (Berlin,  1901),  85-87; 
Hiibner  in  Die  Ethno graphisch- An- 
throp ologische  Abtheilung  des  Museum 
Godeffroy  in  Hamburg  (Hamburg, 
188 1),  17-18;  Finsch  in  Annalen  des 
k.  k.  Naturhistorischen  H  of  muse- 
ums, iii  (Wien,  1888),  115;  Hahl  in 
Nachrichten  iiber  Kaiser  Wilhelms- 
Land  und  den  Bismarck -Archipel, 
xiii  (1897),  76. 

^  Tappenbeck,  op.  cit.,  85;  Hahl 
in  Nachrichten  iiber  Kaiser  Wil- 
helms-Land  und  den  Bismarck -Archi- 
pel, xiii  (1897),  76. 

^  Rascher  in  Archiv  f.  Anthrop., 
xxix  (1904),  212-214,  227-228. 

^  Reina  in  Zeits.  f.  Allgemeine 
Erdkunde,  new  series,  iv  (1858),  356- 
357. 

^  Parkinson  in  Abh.  u.  Berichte  d. 
Kgl.  Zoolog.  Anthrop. -Ethnogr.  Mu- 
seums zu  Dresden,  vii  (Berlin,  1899), 
no.  6,  II. 

^  Parkinson,  loc.  cit. 

^  Codrington,   Melanesians,  100. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


the  Solomon  group,^  and  at  Ysabel.^  The  Banks 

Islands  with  the  neighboring  Torres  Islands  have  numerous 
societies.  ''In  the  Torres  Islands  alone  there  are  a  hun- 
dred of  them,  and  every  man  belongs  to  four  or  five/'^ 
Many  of  these  are  of  little  importance  and  are  confined  to 
particular  islands.  The  Tamate  is  the  great  society  found 
throughout  this  area  and  is  no  doubt  the  original  institution. 
The  Qat^  common  to  all  the  Banks  group,  is  not  found  in 
the  Torres  Islands.  The  Qatu  and  Qetu^  variants  of  the 
Qaty  are  the  great  societies  in  the  Northern  New  Heb- 
rides.^ Up  to  the  present  time  we  have  only  scanty 
indications  of  the  presence  of  secret  societies  in  New  Cale- 
donia. Hamy  mentions  the  Apouema  of  that  island  as 
analogous  to  the  Dukduk  of  New  Britain.^  According  to 
De  Rochas,  circumcision  is  general  and  is  the  occasion  of 
a  festival  at  which  the  boy  is  invested  with  his  first ''culotte.''® 
Indicative  to  a  further  extent  of  the  passage  of  puberty 
institutions  into  secret  societies  is  the  decHne  of  circumcision 
in  the  Melanesian  Islands.    As  no  longer  a  puberty  rite 


^  C.  M.  Woodford,  A  Naturalist 
among  the  Head-Hunters  (London, 

1890)  ,  25. 

^  John  Gaggin,  Among  the  Man- 
Eaters  (London,  1900),  205. 

^  Codrington,  op.  cit.,  75. 

^  Mr.  R.  H.  Codrington's  valuable 
studies  refer  chiefly  to  the  New 
Hebrides,  The  Melanesians  (Oxford, 

189 1)  ,  69-100.  Other  references  on 
the  secret  societies  of  the  New 
Hebrides  are  E.  N.  Imhaus,  Les 
Nouvelles -Hebrides  (Paris,  1890), 
47  sq.;  Somerville  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxiii  (1893),  4  sq.;  and  Alfred 
Penny,  Ten  Years  in  Melanesia 
(London,  1887),  70-73.  On  puberty 
rites  as  a  preparation  for  marriage 
among  the  different  islands  of  the 
Melanesian  group,  see  scattered  ac- 
counts jn  Jour.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc, 
xlvii  (1877),  148-149;  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xviii  (1889),  287  sq.;  Rep. 
Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  iv  (1893), 


659-660,  704-705;  vii  (1889),  780- 
781;  viii  (1901),  312. 

^  Rev.d  Ethnographie,Y  (1886), 551. 

^  La  Nouvelle  Caledonie  et  ses 
Habitants  (Paris,  1862),  265,  285  sq. 
And  for  a  similar  statement,  compare 
Jules  Patouillet,  Trois  Ans  en  Nou- 
velle Caledonie  (Paris,  1873),  94-95. 
More  recent  investigators  have  failed 
to  find  evidences  of  any  secret  so- 
cieties, though  these  undoubtedly 
exist:  Moncelon,  in  Bull.  Soc.  d'' An- 
throp. de  Paris,  third  series,  ix  (1886), 
345-380;  Atkinson  in  Folk-Lore, 
xiv  (1903),  243-259.  Glaumont  de- 
scribes some  New  Caledonian  masks 
and  gives  a  figure  of  one  of  them, 
Rev.  d^ Ethnographic,  vii  (1888),  106- 
107  and  Plate  I.  The  mask  and 
dress  of  a  Caledonian  native  are 
figured  in  James  Edge-Partington, 
An  Album  of  the  Weapons,  Tools, 
Ornaments,  Articles  of  Dress,  etc., 
of  the  Natives  of  the  Pacific  Islands 
(Manchester,  1890),  i,  126. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  201 


admitting  to  manhood,  it  is  either  performed  at  an  early 
age  or  is  superseded  altogether  by  some  more  obvious 
mutilation.  At  Malekula,  one  of  the  New  Hebrides, 
circumcision  generally  occurs  when  the  boy  is  from  three 
to  five  years  of  age.  Even  after  the  rite  is  performed, 
the  lad  is  subject  to  few  restrictions ;  he  still  lives  and  eats 
with  his  mother  until  the  time  has  arrived  to  become  a  Bara. 
The  Bara  is  the  lowest  of  four  secret  society  degrees,  through 
which  a  man  may  pass  by  the  performance  of  appropriate 
ceremonies,  which  include  the  assumption  of  a  new  name 
and  the  inevitable  slaughter  of  pigs.  Once  a  Bara  the  boy, 
now  a  man,  sits  in  the  AmiU  or  men's  house,  where  he  was 
previously  confined  at  circumcision ;  takes  a  wife,  and  shares 
in  the  other  privileges  of  men.^  At  Efate,  connected  with 
circumcision  were  "no  mystic  rites,  no  badge,  new  name, 
marks,  or  hair-cutting,  or  freemasonry,  or  privileges."  ^ 
At  Tanna,  however,  circumcision  is  still  retained  as  a  com- 
pulsory puberty  rite.^  Among  some  of  the  Solomon  Islands 
tattooing  seems  to  have  replaced  circumcision  as  an  initiatory 
rite,  though  the  usual  period  of  seclusion  is  still  enforced.^ 
The  inhabitants  of  Bougainville  Straits  replace  tattoo- 
ing with  cicatrization.^  Circumcision  is  not  practised  by 
the  Loyalty  Islanders.^ 

With  the  spread  of  Christianity  over  the  islands  of  the 
South  Seas,  native  customs  and  traditions  either  have  rapidly 
passed  out  of  existence,  or,  shorn  of  much  of  their  former 
importance,  have  survived  only  in  isolated  localities.  Such 
a  remark  seems  especially  applicable  to  the  Nanga  cere- 
monies of  certain  Fijian  natives,  once  the  most  conspicuous 
of  tribal  festivals,  but  now  no  longer  performed.  These 
interesting  rites  were  confined  to  those  western  tribes  of 
Viti  Levu  which  both  in  traditions  and  language  are  recog- 
nized as  distinctly  Melanesian.    These  tribes  seem  to  have 


^  Leggatt  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc. 
Adv.  Sci.y  iv  (Sidney,  1893),  704- 
705- 

^  Macdonald,  ibid.^  iv,  722. 
^  Gray    in     Intern.    Archiv  f. 
Ethnogr.^  vii  (1894),  229. 


^  Guppy,  The  Solomon  Islands 
and  their  JSfativeSj  136. 

^  Gaggin,  Among  the  Man-Eaters^ 
212  sq. 

^  Gray,  loc.  cit. 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


first  settled  on  the  western  coast  of  the  island  and  as  they 
advanced  inland  brought  their  customs,  including  those  of 
the  NangQj  with  them.^ 

IV.  Polynesia 

We  have  no  conclusive  evidence  for  the  existence  through- 
out the  vast  Pacific  area  of  tribal  initiation  ceremonies  or 
secret  societies  akin  to  those  which  have  been  described. 
The  establishment  of  permanent  chieftainships,  and  in 
some  cases  of  more  powerful  rulers,  the  aristocratic  develop- 
ment of  society  in  these  islands,  and  the  general  advance 
in  civilization  and  the  arts  of  life,  have  rendered  the  per- 
petuation of  these  institutions  unnecessary.  Their  previous 
existence,  however,  seems  probable,  perhaps  at  a  time  when 
all  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  were  still  the  possession  of  the 
Melanesian  race.  The  great  society  of  the  Areo'i  has  been 
described  elsewhere  as  a  probable  outgrowth  of  early  puberty 
institutions.  There  is  sufficient  evidence  for  the  existence 
of  the  Areo  'i  or  of  societies  essentially  the  same  throughout 
the  islands  composing  the  Society,  Tuamotu,  Marquesas, 
and  Hawaiian  groups.  It  was  probably  even  more  widely 
extended.  Curiously  enough  there  is  no  evidence  for  its 
existence  in  the  Tonga  Islands.  Vason  explicitly  denies 
its  existence  there,^  nor  is  it  mentioned  in  Mariner's  nar- 
rative.^   The  Uritoi  society  of  the  Mariannes  seems  to  have 


^  After  years  of  fruitless  inquiry 
the  Rev.  Lorimer  Fison  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  an  account  of 
the  ceremonies  which  is  reproduced  in 
his  article,  ^'The  Nanga,  or  Sa- 
cred Stone  Enclosure,  of  Wainimala, 
Fiji,"  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xiv  (1884), 
14-30.  A  few  years  later  Mr.  A.  B. 
Joske  received  full  accounts  of  the 
mysteries  from  some  of  the  initiated 
men.  See  ^'The  Nanga  of  Viti- 
Levu,"  Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr., 
ii  (1889),  254-271,  with  brief  com- 
ments and  additions  by  Baron  A.  von 
Hugel.  There  is  a  brief  and  inac- 
curate notice  of  the  Nanga  by  Voll- 


mer  in  Petermanns  Mitteilungen, 
xxxiv  (1888),  342-343.  See  also 
Webb  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci. 
ii  (Sidney,  1890),  623,  who  applies  the 
other  native  term,  Mbaki,  to  the  rites. 
The  early  missionaries,  Thomas 
Williams  and  James  Calvert,  de- 
scribe what  were  probably  secret  cere- 
monies of  an  initiatory  character, 
Fiji  and  the  Fijians,  186-187. 

^  An  Authentic  Narrative  of  Four 
Years^  Residence  at  Tongataboo  (Lon- 
don, 1810),  132. 

^  An  Account  of  the  Natives  of 
the  Tonga  Islands  (Edinburgh, 
1827). 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  203 


been  essentially  the  same  as  the  Areot^  The  society  of 
the  Areoi  was  an  object  of  great  interest  to  the  early 
navigators  in  the  southwestern  Pacific.  George  Forster 
gives  the  earliest  account.^  Captain  Cook,  who  met  it  at 
Tahiti  in  1769  on  his  first  voyage  and  again  on  his  second 
voyage  in  1774,  describes  those  features  of  unbridled  sexual 
license  and  infanticide  commented  on  by  every  traveller 
after  him.^  The  English  missionaries,  who  arrived  at 
Tahiti  in  1797,  naturally  came  into  much  contact  with  the 
society.  The  subsequent  history  of  missionary  enterprise 
in  Tahiti  and  the  neighboring  islands  is  largely  occupied 
with  a  desperate,  though  finally  successful,  struggle  with  the 
Areoisy  —  ''Legion-fiends  of  the  voluptuous  haunts  of 
Belial.^'  This  history  may  be  read  in  the  two  works  of 
William  Wilson,^  and  James  Montgomery,^  and  in  the 
summarized  account  by  Th.  Arbousset.^  One  of  the  first 
deacons  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Huahine  was  an 
Areoi  priest.  But  stubborn  and  unconverted  Areois  were 
still  living  until  very  recently.  ''Yes,  sir,''  said  one  of 
them  to  an  interested  inquirer,  "I  am  the  last  man  of  the 
Areoi  on  Huahine.  There  are  one  or  two  of  us  on  Tai- 
arapu,  in  Tahiti.''  The  best  accounts  of  the  society  are 
those  by  the  missionary  William  Ellis,  based  on  statements 
by  native  chiefs,"^  and  J.  A.  Moerenhout,  formerly  United 
States  Consul  at  Tahiti.^ 


^  On  the  Uritoi  society,  ^see 
Charles  Le  Gobien,  Histoire  des  lies 
Marianes  (Paris,  1700),  61  sq.,  103; 
Louis  de  Freycinet,  Voyage  autour  du 
Monde  (Paris,  1837),  ii>  1^4?  3^9  ^Q- 

^  A  Voyage  round  the  World 
(London,  1777),  ii,  128-135. 

^  The  Three  Voyages  of  Captain 
James  Cook  round  the  World  (Lon- 
don, 182 1),  i,  206-207,  iii,  348.  Cf. 
also  History  of  the  Otaheitan  Islands 
(Edinburgh,  rSoo),  81  sq.;  John 
Turnbull,  A  Voyage  round  the 
World  (London,  1805),  iii,  68-71. 

^  A  Missionary  Voyage  to  the 
Southern  Pacific  Ocean  (London, 
1799),  65-66,  152-153,  326,  347- 


^  Journal  of  Voyages  and  Travels 
by  the  Rev.  Daniel  Tyerman  and 
George  Bennet^  Esq.  (London,  183 1), 
i,  94,  113,  2545^. 

^  Tahiti  et  les  lies  Adjacentes 
(Paris,  1867),  22  sq.,  99  sq. 

^  Polynesian  Researches  (New 
York,  1833),  i,  182-195. 

^  Voyages  aux  lies  du  Grand 
Ocean  (Paris,  1837),  i,  484-503; 
ElKs's  account  is  followed  by  Michael 
Russell,  Polynesia  (New  York,  1848), 
73-77;  H.  S.  Cooper,  Coral  Lands 
(London,  1880),  ii,  288  sq.;  F.  J. 
Moss,  Through  Atolls  and  Islands 
in  the  Great  South  Sea  (London, 
1889),  150  sq.;  and  Louis  Becke, 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


The  existence  of  Maori  secret  societies  anterior  to  the 
development  of  aristocratic  conditions  may  possibly  be 
discovered  in  the  traditions  associated  v^ith  the  Whare 
Runangdy  or  council-chamber,  of  the  tribe.  According  to 
the  native  legends  the  ancestors  of  the  Maori  had  once 
lived  in  a  great  island,  Hawaiki,  remote  from  New  Zealand. 
There  a  secret  society  had  been  formed  called  the  Runanga; 
its  purpose  was  the  reformation  of  morals,  but  the  reformers 
who  were  the  chiefs  of  the  Runanga^  being  unsuccessful  in 
their  efforts,  were  compelled  to  leave  the  island  with  their 
followers,  and  to  emigrate  to  New  Zealand.  ''The  dis- 
persion of  the  immigrants  broke  up  and  scattered  the  original 
and  secret  Runanga^  but  from  its  ashes  arose  a  Runanga 
in  every  tribe,  each  of  which  zealously  enforced  the  laws 
their  parent  society  had  framed.'^  ^  These  tribal  councils, 
or  Runangasy  were  aristocratic  in  character  and  consisted  of 
the  ruling  chief,  some  of  his  nearest  relatives,  and  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  the  tribe. ^  We  might  reasonably 
expect  to  find  traces  of  secret  societies  in  New  Zealand, 
and  such  suspicions  are  confirmed  by  the  legend  that  has 
been  related.  The  Runanga  has  its  counterpart  in  the 
organization  of  the  more  powerful  African  societies,  as 
Egbo  of  Old  Calabar,  whose  members  comprising  the  lead- 
ing men  and  chiefs  of  the  tribe  formerly  exercised  almost 
despotic  control.  Tradition  places  ''Hawaiki"  in  a  northerly 
or  northeasterly  direction  from  New  Zealand,  and  efforts 
have  been  made  to  identify  it  with  Tahiti,  with  Sawaii,  the 
largest  of  the  Samoan  group,  and  even  with  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  But  the  opinion  of  William  Colenso  that  the 
Maori  tradition  is  probably  a  ''figurative  or  allegorical 
myth,"  ^  lends  support  to  the  hypothesis  here  suggested. 


Wild  Life  in  Southern  Seas  (London, 
1897),  44-58.  Adolf  Bastian,  Zur 
Kenntniss  Hawaii's  (Berlin,  1883), 
66-69,  follows  Ellis  and  Moerenhout. 
See  also  P.  Lesson,  Voyage  autour  du 
Monde  (Paris,  1839),  h  421;  Henri 
Lutteroth,  O-Tatti  (Paris,  1845), 
9-18;  Jules  Garnier,  Oceanie  (Paris, 
1871),    370   sq.;    A.    Lesson,  Les 


Polynesiens  (Paris,  1880- 1884),  i, 
359-360;  iv,  35;  and  Th.  Achelis, 
Uher  Mythologie  und  Cultus  von 
Hawaii  (Braunschweig,  1895),  65  sq. 

^  J.  C.  Johnstone,  Maoria  (Lon- 
don, 1874),  47. 

2  Ihid.^  47-48;  cf.  Richard  Taylor, 
Te  Ika  A  Maui  (London,  1870),  344. 

^  Trans,  and  Proc.  New  Zealand 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  205 


The  myth  of  the  origin  of  the  Runanga  would  then  arise 
to  explain  the  existence  of  the  institution  throughout  the 
island.  The  bull-roarer,  that  sure  indication  of  former 
secret  rites,  survives  in  Nev^  Zealand  as  a  child's  play- 
thing.^ 

The  decline  of  puberty  rites  throughout  the  Polynesian 
area  is  to  be  associated,  as  in  Melanesia,  with  the  decay  or 
total  absence  of  circumcision  as  an  initiatory  practice.  It 
has  been  generally  replaced,  in  Polynesia,  by  tattooing  and, 
where  retained,  appears  to  have  lost  all  religious  significance 
as  well  as  tribal  character.  As  a  purely  conventional  or 
hygienic  practice  circumcision  is  usually  performed  at  an 
early  age.  Numerous  examples  are  to  be  found  among  the 
New  Zealanders,^  the  Fijians,^  the  Samoans,^  and  at  Tahiti  ^ 
and  Hawaii.^  At  Nine,  or  Savage  Island,  east  of  the  Tonga 
group,  there  is  a  curious  survival  of  circumcision  in  the 
rite  of  mata  pulega,  which  must  be  undergone  by  infants. 
^'A  child  not  so  initiated  is  never  regarded  as  a  full-born 
member  of  the  tribe."  ^  Tattooing,  though  a  tribal  rite, 
does  not  appear  to  be  accompanied  with  initiatory  cere- 
monies of  a  secret  character.  At  Samoa,  until  tattooed 
a  boy  was  in  his  minority.  "  He  could  not  think  of  marriage, 
and  he  was  constantly  exposed  to  taunts  and  ridicule,  as 
being  poor  and  of  low  birth,  and  as  having  no  right  to  speak 
in  the  society  of  men."  ^  In  the  Marquesas  Islands,  where 
tattooing  is  the  principal  initiatory  rite,  the  boy  at  puberty 


Inst.,  i  (1868),  52-53;  cf.  Edward 
Shortland,  Traditions  and  Super- 
stitions of  the  New  Zealanders  (Lon- 
don, 1856),  2. 

^  A.  Hamilton,  Maori  Art  (Wel- 
lington, 1896),  373. 

^  Edward  Shortland,  The  Southern 
Districts  of  New  Zealand  (London, 
1851),  16. 

^  Thomas  Williams  and  James 
Calvert,  Fiji  and  the  Fijians  (New 
York,  1859),  131. 

*  Ella  in  Rep.  Austr.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  iv  (Sidney,  1893),  624;  W.  T. 
Pritchard,  Polynesian  Reminiscences 
(London,   1866),   142  sq.;  Turner, 


Samoa,  88  sq.;  Kubary  in  Globus ^ 
xlvii  (1885),  71. 

^  William  Wilson,  A  Missionary 
Voyage  to  the  Southern  Pacific  Ocean 
(London,  1799),  342;  Supplement 
au  Voyage  de  M.  de  Bougainville 
(Paris,  1772),  70. 

^  Jules  Remy,  Recits  d'un  Vieux 
Sauvage  (Chalons-sur-Marne,  1859), 
22. 

^  Thompson  in  Jour.  Anthrop, 
Inst.,  xxxi  (1901),  140;  id.,  Savage 
Island  (London,  1902),  92. 

^  George  Turner,  Samoa  (London, 
1884),  88. 


2o6         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


is  given  over  to  a  professional  tattooer  and  is  secluded  from 
the  v^omen  until  the  operation  is  over.  He  then  returns 
to  the  village  and  receives  a  new  name  v^hich  replaces  the 
provisional  name  assigned  him  at  birth/  Tattooing 
reached  its  culminating  point  in  the  Society  and  Marquesas 
islands,  where  both  men  and  women  were  operated  upon. 
In  the  Samoan  and  Tonga  groups  it  was  restricted  to  men; 
in  Fiji  to  the  women. ^ 

V.  Africa 

Among  the  numerous  South  African  peoples  occupying 
the  continent  from  the  Cape  northwards  to  the  Zambesi, 
puberty  rites  of  the  general  character  that  has  been  described, 
seem  to  have  commonly  prevailed.  Such  rites  have  been 
studied  among  the  Hottentots  of  the  Cape,^  the  Korannas 
and  Griquas,  Hottentotic  races  on  the  Vaal  River,^  the 
Bushmen,^  and  among  the  Basutos,^  the  Bechuanas/  the 
Namaqua,  and  some  other  tribes.^  Among  the  Amazulu, 
the  absence  of  circumcision  seems  connected  with  the  lack 
of  any  formal  rites  of  tribal  initiation.  Such  rites  were 
formerly  in  existence,  however.^  An  old  tradition  of  the 
people  recites  that  "they  circumcised  because  Unkulun- 
kulu  said,  *Let  men  circumcise,  that  they  may  not  be 


^  Clavel  in  Rev.  Ethnographies 
iii  (1884),  136  sq.;  id.,  Les  Mar- 
quisiens  (Paris,  1885),  58. 

^  Berthold  Seemann,  Viti  (Lon- 
don, 1862),  113. 

^  Peter  Kolben,  The  Present  State 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  (London, 
1738),  i,  120-125;  ^f-  ^Iso  Francis 
Leguat,  A  New  Voyage  to  the  East 
Indies  (London,  1708),  230. 

^  Holub  in  Jour,  Anthrop.  Inst.,  x 
(1880),  7-8. 

5  G.  W.  Stow,  The  Native  Races 
of  South  A frica  (London ,  1 905 ) ,  1 1 7  /z.  ^ 

^  Eugene  Casalis,  Les  Bassoutos 
(Paris,  1859),  275-283;  Macdonald 
in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxii  (1892), 
ICQ  sq.;  id.,  Revue  Scientifque, 
third  series,  xlv  (1890),  642-643. 


^  Robert  Moffat,  Missionary  La- 
bours and  Scenes  in  Southern  Africa 
(London,  1842),  250-251;  David 
Livingstone,  Missionary  Travels  and 
Researches  in  South  Africa  (New 
York,  1858),  164  sq. 

^  The  most  valuable  account  of 
these  South  African  ceremonies  is 
that  by  Gustav  Fritsch,  Die  Einge- 
borenen  Siid-Afrika^s  (Breslau,  1872), 
109-111,  206-207.  See  also  for  Kaf- 
fir rites,  Nauhaus  in  Verhandl.  Berlin. 
Gesells.  f.  Anthrop.  Ethnol.  und 
Urgeschichte  (1882),  205;  and  for 
those  of  the  Sotho  tribes,  Endemann 
in  Zeits.  f.  Ethnol.,  vi  (1874),  37-39- 

^  Fritsch,  op.  cit.,  140;  Wheel- 
wright in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxv 
(1905),  251. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  207 


boys.'  ''  ^  The  Ba-Ronga  of  Delagoa  Bay  have  also  discon- 
tinued circumcision.   Other  initiatory  practices  still  prevail.^ 

Initiation  rites  are  probably  to  be  found  throughout  the 
wide  area  between  the  Zambesi  and  the  Congo.  At  present 
our  information  is  most  fragmentary.  We  have  some 
evidence  for  their  existence  among  the  Upper  Zambesi 
peoples  of  British  Central  Africa,^  the  tribes  of  Nyassaland 
west  of  Lake  Nyassa,^  the  Bondei,  Wanika,  Wagogo,  and 
other  tribes  of  German  East  Africa,^  and  among  the  Baluba 
along  the  Lulua  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Kasai',  Congo 
Free  State. ^  In  Angola  puberty  initiation  is  a  universal 
custom  as  also  among  the  Songo  negroes.^  There  is  also 
some  evidence  for  initiation  ceremonies  among  the  Uganda 
tribes  west  of  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza.^  The  powerful 
religious  fraternities  throughout  Somaliland,  to-day  under 
Mohammedan  influence,  may  possibly  be  developments 
of  earlier  tribal  societies. Initiation  rites  are  also  found 
among  the  Beni  Amer  of  Northern  Abyssinia. 

In  the  Congo  region  there  are  two  important  fraternities 
which  extend  over  a  large  area.    The  Nkimba  rites  are 


^  Henry  Callaway,  The  Religious 
System  of  the  Amazulu  (London, 
1870),  58. 

2  Henri  Junod,  Les  Ba-Ronga 
(Neuchatel,  1898),  28  sq. 

3  Man,  iii  (1903),  75. 

^  Moggridge  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xxxii  (1902),  470;  Maples  in 
Jour.  Manchester  Geogr.  Soc.,  v 
(1899),  67;  id.,  Scottish  Geogr.  Mag., 
iv  (1888),  429-430;  Duff  Mac- 
donald,  Africana  (London,  1882),  i, 
127-132. 

^  Dale  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxv 
(1896),  188-193;  Cole  in  Jour. 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxxii  (1902)  308; 
R.  F.  Burton,  Zanzibar  (London, 
1872),  ii,  89-92;  Charles  New,  Life, 
Wanderings,  and  Labours  in  Eastern 
Africa  (London,  1873),  107-114; 
C.  C.  von  der  Decken,  Reisen  in  Ost- 
Afrika  (Leipzig,  1869),  h  217; 
Oscar  Baumann,  Usambara  und 
seine  Nachbargebiete  (Berlin,  1891), 


132-133;  J.  L.  Krapf,  Travels,  Re- 
searches, and  Missionary  Labours 
during  an  Eighteen  Years^  Residence 
in  Eastern  Africa  (London,  i860), 
164-166. 

«  C.  S.  L.  Bateman,  The  First 
Ascent  of  the  Kasal  (London,  1889), 
183-184;  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in 
West  Africa  (London,  1897),  547. 

^  J.  J.  Monteiro,  Angola  and  the 
River  Congo  (London,  1875),  i, 
278-279;  O.  H.  Schiitt,  Reisen  im 
Siidwestlichen  Becken  des  Congo  (Ber- 
lin, 1881),  106. 

^  Paul  Pogge,  Im  Reiche  des 
Muata  Jamwo  (Berlin,  1880),  39-40. 

^  (Sir)  Harry  Johnston,  The 
Uganda  Protectorate  (New  York, 
1902),  ii,  554,  640,  804,  827. 

See  the  description  by  L.  Robec- 
chi  Bricchetti,  Somalia  e  Benadir 
(Milano,  1899),  422-431. 

"  Werner  Munzinger,  Ostafrikan- 
ische  Studien  (Basel,  1883),  323-324. 


2o8        PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


found  among  the  Bakongo  tribes  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo  upwards  for  over  two  hundred  miles.  Beyond  the 
cataract  region  of  the  river  they  are  replaced  by  the  wide- 
spread Ndembo  rites,  which  have  apparently  lost  all  con- 
nection with  puberty  initiations.^  Among  the  Upper  Congo 
tribes,  who  are  pure  Bantu,  there  are  no  initiations.  Boys 
are  circumcised  twelve  days  after  birth. ^ 

In  the  coastal  area  between  the  Congo  and  the  Niger, 
puberty  institutions  and  secret  societies  are  numerous. 
Sindungo  is  found  in  Angoy  and  Kabinda.^  In  French 
Congo  in  the  Gabun  region  of  the  Equator,  the  leading 
societies  are  Mwetyi  among  the  Shekani,^  Bweti  and  Ukukwe 
among  the  Bakele;  Nda  or  Mda  of  the  Mpongwe.^  Tasiy 
now  little  more  than  a  dramatic  association,  is  found  in  the 
Ogowe  region.^  Ukuku  is  the  prominent  organization  in 
the  Benito  regions  of  the  Spanish  territory  north  of  Corisco 
Bay.^  Malanda  dwells  in  the  Batanga  country.^  is 
found  among  both  the  Bula  and  the  Fang,^  and  still  other 


^  Initiation  by  the  fetish  priests 
into  the  mysteries  of  Maramba  of 
Loango  tribes  is  described  by  an  old 
writer  in  Allgemeine  Historie  der 
Reisen  (Leipzig,  1749),  iv,  654  sq. 
On  the  Nkimba  rites  which  closely 
resemble  those  of  Maramba^  see  W.  H. 
Bentley,  Dictionary  and  Grammar  of 
the  Kongo  Language  (London,  1887), 
507;  id.,  Life  on  the  Congo  (London, 
1887),  80  sq.;  id.,  Pioneering  on  the 
Congo  (New  York,  1900),  i,  282-284; 
Biittner  in  Mitth.  Afrikan.  Gesell.  in 
Deutschland,  v  (1887),  188;  Dennett 
in  Jour.  Manchester  Geogr.  Soc,  iii 
(1887),  119;  E.  J.  Glave,  Six  Years 
of  Adventure  in  Congo-Land  (London, 
1893),  80-83;  Johnston,  in  Proc. 
Roy.  Geogr.  Soc,  new  series,  v  (1883), 
572-573;  id. J  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xiii  (1884),  472;  id.,  The  River 
Congo  (London,  1884),  423  sq.; 
Morgan  in  Proc.  Roy.  Geogr.  Soc, 
new  series,  vi  (1884),  93;  Herbert 
Ward,  Five  Years  with  the  Congo 
Cannibals  (London,    1890),  54-57; 


id.,  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxiv  (1895), 
288-289. 

On  the  Ndembo  rites,  see  Adolf 
Bastian,  Die  Deutsche  Expedition 
an  der  Loango-Kuste  (Jena,  1874),  ii, 
31;  Meinhof  in  Globus,  Ixvi  (1894), 
117  sq.;  and  the  numerous  writings 
by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Bentley  previously 
cited. 

^  Johnston,  The  River  Congo, 
423  sq. 

^  Bastian,  op.  cit.,  i,  221-223. 

^  W.  W.  Reade,  Savage  Africa 
(New  York,  1864),  208. 

^  J.  L.  Wilson,  Western  Africa 
(New  York,  1856),  391  sq.;  R.  F. 
Burton,  Two  Trips  to  Gorilla  Land 
(London,  1876),  i,  loo-ioi. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 
Africa,  535. 

^  Id.,  Travels  in  West  Africa,  540; 
Nassau,  Fetichism  in  West  Africa, 
140  sq. 

^  Nassau,  op.  cit.,  248,  320-326. 
^  Bennett  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxix  (1899),  92. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  209 


secret  societies  exist  among  the  Abongo/  Among  theQuollas 
of  Kamerun,  Max  Biichner  found  five  societies  —  Elungy 
Ekongolo,  Mungi  (a  powerful  law-god  society,  apparently 
the  same  as,  Egbo  of  Calabar),  Mukukuy  and  Muemba? 
The  Losango  society  is  allied  to  Mungi.^  Ikun  of  the  Bakele 
south  of  Gross  Batanga  is  an  important  society  in  this  part 
of  Kamerun.^  The  Duala  tribe  has  a  secret  society  called 
Tugu.^  The  Banes  have  elaborate  initiatory  rites. ^  The 
puberty  rites  of  the  Yaunde  tribes  of  southeastern  Kamerun 
have  recently  been  the  subject  of  careful  study.^  Egho  of 
the  Effik  tribes  of  Old  Calabar  in  what  is  now  the  British 
Oil  Rivers  Protectorate  was  once  the  most  powerful  secret 
society  in  Africa.^  Idiong  (Jdion  or  Idien)  is  a  society  open 
only  to  Egbo  members.^  The  Ayaka  society  belongs  to 
this  region/^ 

Between  the  Niger  and  the  Senegal,  secret  societies  are 
to  be  found  in  nearly  every  tribe.  Among  the  different 
Yoruba  peoples  of  Lagos,  Egba,  and  Jebu,  Ogboni^^  is  the 


^  Oskar  Lenz,  Skizzen  aus  West 
Afrika  (Berlin,  1878),  no. 

^  Kamerun  (Leipzig,  1887),  25- 
29.  On  Mungi,  see  also  Lauffer  in 
Deutsches  Kolonialhlatty  x  (1899), 
852-854. 

^  Kobel  in  Deutsches  Kolonialhlatty 
xi  (1900),  800. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West 
Africa,  527-530. 

^  Keller  in  Deutsches  Kolonial^ 
hlatt,  xi  (1900),  144. 

^  Hans  Dominik,  Kamerun  (Ber- 
lin, 1901),  164-166. 

'  Zenker  in  Mitth.  v.  Forschungs- 
reisenden  und  Gelehrten  aus  den 
Deutschen  Schutzgehieten,  viii  (Berlin, 
1895),  52-58;  C.  Morgen,  Durch 
Kamerun  von  Siid  nach  Nord  (Leip- 
zig, 1893),  51  sq.  See  also  on  Kam- 
erun societies,  Pauli  in  Petermanns 
Mitteilungen,  xxxi  (1885),  21;  Reiche- 
now  in  Verhandl.  Berlin.  Gesells.  f. 
Anthrop.  Ethnol.  u.  Urgeschichte 
(1873),  181. 

^  Adolf  Bastian,  Die  Rechts- 
verhaltnisse  bei  verschiedenen  Volkern 


der  Erde  (Berlin,  1872),  402-404: 
Count  de  Cardi  in  Miss  Kingsley's 
West  African  Studies,  ist  ed.  (London, 
1899),  562;  Daniell  in  Jour.  Ethnol. 
Soc,  first  series,  i,  223-224;  T.  J. 
Hutchinson  in  Trans.  Ethnol.  Soc, 
new  series,  i  (1861),  334-335;  ^^-y 
Impressions  of  Western  Africa  (Lon- 
don, 1858),  141-145;  Miss  Kingsley, 
Travels  in  West  Africa,  532-535; 
Walker  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  vi 
(1876),  119-122;  James  Holman, 
Travels  in  Madeira,  Sierra  Leone, 
Teneriffe,  etc.  (London,  1840),  392- 
395;  Richard  Lander  and  John 
Lander,  Journal  of  an  Expedition 
to  explore  the  Course  and  Termination 
of  the  Niger  (London,  1838),  ii, 
377-378. 

^  Marriott  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxix  (1899),  23. 
Ibid.,  22,  97. 

P.  Baudin,  Fetichism  and  Fetich 
Worshipers  (New  York,  1885),  63- 
64;  A.  B.  Ellis,  The  Yoruba-Speak- 
ing  Peoples  of  the  Slave  Coast  of  West 
Africa  (London,  1894),  93-95;  Nar- 


p 


210         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 

powerful  society.  In  Jebu  it  is  called  Oshogho,  Oro  ^  and 
Egungun  ^  among  these  tribes  present  much  interest.  Gu- 
nuko  ^  of  the  Nupe  north  of  Lagos  belongs  to  this  region. 
The  Zangheto  society  constitutes  the  night  police  of  Porto 
Novo,  Dahomey.^  Afa  is  found  in  Togoland;^  and  the 
Katahwiri  society  on  the  Gold  Coast.®  Sembe^  among  the 
Gallianas,  Vey,  Golah,  and  other  tribes  of  Liberia,  closely 
resembles  the  Purrah  of  Sierra  Leone. ^  Kufongy  a  Mende 
society,  is  given  over  to  the  preparation  of  charms.^  Purrahy 
or  Poroy  covers  a  wide  area  from  Sherbro  Island  through 
Sierra  Leone  to  the  Temnes  and  Timanees  northeast  of  that 
country.  Before  the  establishment  of  British  law  in  the 
Sherbro  Hinterland,  it  provided  the  chief  governmental 
agency.^    North  and  east  of  Sierra  Leone  we  may  note  the 


rative  of  Captain  James  Fawckner^s 
Travels  on  the  Coast  of  Benin,  West 
Africa  (London,  1837),  102-103; 
Smith  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix 
(1899),  25. 

^  R.  F.  Burton,  Abeokuta  and  the 
Camaroons  Mountains  (London, 
1863),  i,  196-200;  Baudin,  op.  cit., 
62;  Mrs.  Batty  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xix  (1889),  160-161;  Moloney 
in  Jour.  Manchester  Geogr.  Soc,  v 
(1889),  293;  Ellis,  Yoruba-S peaking 
Peoples,  109-111;  H.  L.  Roth,  Great 
Benin  (Halifax,  Eng.,  1903),  65; 
John  Adams,  Remarks  on  the  Country 
extending  from  Cape  Palmas  to  the 
River  Congo  (London,  1823),  104- 

^  Burton,  op.  cit.,  195-196;  Ellis, 
Yoruba-S  peaking  Peoples,  107-109; 
Baudin,  op.  cit.,  61-62,  D'Albeca  in 
Tour  du  Monde,  new  series,  i  (1895), 

lOI. 

^  Samuel  Crowther  and  J.  C. 
Taylor,  The  Gospel  on  the  Banks  of 
the  Niger  (London,  1859),  215; 
D^Albeca,  loc.  cit. 

^  A.  B.  Ellis,  The  Ewe-Speaking 
Peoples  of  the  Slave  Coast  of  West 
Africa  (London,  1890),  178. 

^  Marriott  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxix  (1899),  24. 


^  Ibid.,  21. 

^  For  the  Liberian  societies  our 
chief  authority  is  J.  Biittikofer, 
Reisebilder  aus  Liberia  (Leiden,  1890), 
ii,  302-308.  Cf  also  Penick,  quoted 
in  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore,  ix  (1896), 
220-222.  An  early  account  of  the 
Belli-paaro  mysteries  of  the  Quo j as, 
is  given  by  O.  Dapper,  Description 
dePAfrique  (Amsterdam,  1686),  268- 
270.  Dapper's  account  is  reproduced 
by  Picart  and  Bernard,  The  Ceremonies 
and  Religious  Customs  of  the  Various 
Nations  of  the  Known  World  (Lon- 
don, 1733),  iv,  450  sq.;  it  is  found 
also  in  Allgejneine  Historic  der  Reisen 
(Leipzig,  1749),  iii,  630. 

^  Miss  Kingsley,  West  African 
Studies,  138  sq. 

^  John  Matthews,  A  Voyage  to 
the  River  Sierra-Leone  (London, 
1788),  yosq.;  Thomas  Winterbottom, 
An  Account  of  the  Native  Africans  in 
the  Neighborhood  of  Sierra  Leone 
(London,  1803),  i,  135-137;  J- 
Laing,  Travels  in  Western  Africa 
(London,  1825),  92  sq.;  Harris  in 
Mem.  Anthrop.  Soc,  ii  (1866), 
31-32;  Grifhth  in  Jour.  Anthrop. 
Inst.,  xvi  (1887),  309;  J.  de  Crozals, 
Les  Peulhs  (Paris,  1883),  243-245; 
T.  J.  Alldridge  in  Geogr.  Jour.y  iv 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  211 


Simo  (Semo  or  Simon)  and  Penda-Penda  of  the  Bagas  of 
French  Guinea.^  Among  the  Temnes,  between  Sierra 
Leone  and  the  Niger,  the  Purrah  institution  is  known  as 
Amporo,^  The  Dou  or  Lou  is  found  among  the  Bambara 
and  Bobo  tribes,  south  of  Timbuctu.'"^  The  Naferi  is  another 
institution  of  the  Bambaras/  Mahammah  Jambohy  better 
known  as  Mumbo  Jumbo^  exists  among  the  Mande  or  Man- 
dingoes  of  western  Soudan  ^  and  the  Bagnouns  along  the 
Casamance  River  in  Senegal.^  Kongcorong  among  the 
Mandingoes  and  Susus  has  inquisitorial  functions  similar 
to  those  of  Mumbo  JumboJ  Among  the  Bayandas  (basin 
of  the  Tchad),  initiates  known  as  labis  undergo  a  novitiate 
lasting  three  or  four  years. ^ 


(1894),  133-134;  id. J  The  Sherhro 
and  its  Hinterland  (London,  1901), 
124-135- 

^  Rene  Caillie,  Journal  d^un 
Voyage  a  Temboctou  et  a  Jenne 
(Paris,  1830),  i,  227-231;  Winter- 
bottom,  op.  cit.j  i,  137-139;  Leprince 
in  Revue  Scientifique,  fourth  series, 
xiii  (1900),  399-401;  Nordeck  in 
Tour  du  Monde,  li  (1886),  283-284. 

^  C.  F.  Schlenker,  A  Collection  of 
Temne  Traditions,  Fables,  and  Prov- 
erbs (London,  186 1),  xiii-xiv. 

^  Caillie,  op.  cit.,  ii,  117  sq.; 
L.  G.  Binger,  Du  Niger  au  Golfe  de 
Guinee  (Paris,  1892),  i,  378-380. 

^  Caillie,  op.  cit.,  ii,  85-87. 

^  Francis  Moore,  Travels  into  the 
Inland  Parts  of  Africa  (London, 
1738),  40,  116-118.  Moore's  ac- 
count is  reproduced  in  Allgemeine 
Historie  der  Reisen  (Leipzig,  1749), 
iii,  243  sq.  See  also  Mungo  Park, 
Travels  in  the  Interior  Districts  of 
Africa  (London,  1816),  i,  58-59; 
Gray  and  Dochard,  Travels  in  West- 
ern Africa  (London,  1825),  82  sq. 

®  J.  L.  B.  Berenger-Feraud,  Les 
Peuplades  de  la  Senegambie  (Paris, 
1879),  299. 

^  Gray  and  Dochard,  op.  cit.,  55. 

*  Clozel  in  Tour  du  Monde,  new 
series,  ii  (1896),  32-33. 


The  work  by  Frobenius,  previously 
referred  to,  summarizes  many  descrip- 
tions given  of  the  African  societies, 
especially  by  the  earher  writers,  ^'Die 
Masken  und  Geheimbiinde  Afrikas,*' 
Abhandl.  Kaiserlichen  Leopoldinisch- 
Carolinischen  Deuts.  Akad.  der  Na- 
turforscher  (Halle,  1899),  Ixxiv,  1-266. 
A  previous  study  by  Frobenius,  "Die 
Geheimbiinde  Afrika's,"  is  given  in 
Sammlung  gemeinverstandlicher  wis- 
senschaftlicher  Vortrdge,  new  series 
(Hamburg,  1895),  631-658.  A  pop- 
ular account  of  the  African  societies 
is  found  in  the  same  writer's  Aus  den 
Flegeljahren  der  Menschheit  (Hann- 
over, 1901),  148-171.  On  the  secret 
soueties  of  the  tribes  along  the  Gulf 
of  Guinea,  the  best  general  account  is 
to  be  found  in  Miss  Mary  H.  Kings- 
ley's  works:  Travels  in  West  Africa 
(London,  1897),  526-547;  and  West 
African  Studies.  2d  ed.  (London, 
1901),  117,  135,  138-141,  144,  364, 
372,  375,  383-384,  398,  411-413,  448- 
456.  See  also  Marriott,  "The  Secret 
Societies  of  West  Africa,"  Jour, 
Anthrop.  Inst.,  xxix  (1899),  21-24. 
In  the  work  by  R.  H.  Nassau,  Fetich- 
ism  in  West  Africa  (New  York,  1904), 
138-155,  247-263,  and  320-326  are 
graphic  accounts  of  the  societies 
known  as  Ukuku,  Yasi,  Njembe,  and 


212         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


VL  South  America  and  Central  America 

Puberty  rites  were  common  among  the  aborigines  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  but  we  know  Httle  of  them  except  as 
ordeals  which  may  or  may  not  have  formed  part  of  secret 
initiation  ceremonies/  Among  the  Fuegians,  the  Paraguay 
Indians,  and  certain  Brazilian  tribes  —  notably  the  Juri, 
Maupes,  Tekuna,  Karaya,  and  Kangthi  —  however,  tribal 
initiations  of  a  secret  character  still  prevail.^  The  cult 
of  Nagualism  in  Mexico  has  already  been  discussed  as 
a  probable  survival  of  primitive  puberty  institutions.^  The 
secret  ceremonies  of  the  Voodoo  cult  in  Hayti  have  been 
usually  considered  to  have  been  brought  from  West  Africa 
by  the  Aradas,  a  tribe  of  negroes  of  the  Slave  Coast.  Mr. 
W.  W.  Newell,  however,  has  recently  argued  that  the  name 
Vaudoux  or  Voodoo  is  derived  from  a  European  source, 
as  well  as  the  beliefs  which  the  word  denotes  —  "the  alleged 


Malanda.  His  account  of  the  in- 
itiatory rites  of  the  last-named  society- 
is  almost  the  only  detailed  descrip- 
tion we  have  for  the  West  African 
organizations. 

^  Examples  of  such  ordeals  are 
found  among  the  Guanas  of  Paraguay 
(T.  J.  Hutchinson,  The  Parana, 
London,  1868,  65);  among  the 
BraziHans  (Lomonaco  in  Archivio 
per  V  Antra  polo  gia  e  la  Etnologia, 
xix,  1889,  47) ;  among  the  Mosquito 
Indians  (Collinson  in  Mem.  An- 
throp.  Soc,  iii,  1870,  153);  and 
among  the  Coras  of  northwestern 
Mexico  (Carl  Lumholtz,  Unknown 
Mexico,  New  York,  1902,  i,  510). 

2  Mission  Scientifique  du  Cap 
Horn,  tome  vii.  Anthropologic,  Eth- 
nographic, par  P.  Hyades  et  J. 
Deniker  (Paris,  1891),  376-377; 
W.  B.  Grubb,  Among  the  Indians  of 
the  Paraguayan  Chaco  (London, 
1904),  58-59;  A.  R.  Wallace,  A  Nar- 
rative of  Travels  on  the  Amazon  and 
Rio  Negro  (London,  1853),  348  sq., 
497,  501  sq.;  Karl  von  den  Steinen, 
Unter    den    Naturvolkern  Zentral- 


Brasiliens  (Berlin,  1894),  296  sq., 
496  sq.;  H.  W.  Bates,  The  Natu- 
ralist on  the  River  Amazons  (Lon- 
don, 1863),  ii,  204-206,  376,  403- 
405.  See  also  Ehrenreich  in  Veroff- 
entlichungen  aus  dem  Kdniglichen 
Museum  fur  Volkerkunde,  ii  (Berlin, 
1891),  34-38,  70-71.  Comparing  the 
Brazilian  and  Melanesian  secret  rites, 
Ehrenreich  significantly  remarks : 
^^Diese  Uebereinstimmung  geht  so 
ins  Einzelne,  dass  Kleinschmidts 
Beschreibung  der  neubritannischen 
Duck-Duckfeste  mutatis  mutandis 
auch  auf  die  Thiertanze  der  Karaya 
passen  wiirde.'^  The  Aymara  In- 
dians of  Central  Bolivia  have  three 
esoteric  fraternities  of  shamans  whose 
rites  and  ceremonies  strikingly  re- 
semble those  of  the  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona  orders.  (Bandelier, ' '  La 
Danse  des  ^Sicuri'  des  Indiens 
Aymara  de  la  Bolivie,"  Anthropo- 
logical Papers  written  in  Honor  of 
Franz  Boas,  New  York,  1906,  272- 
2S2). 

2  Brinton  in  Proc.  Amer.  Philos. 
Soc,  xxxiii  (1894),  11-69. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  213 


sect  and  its  supposed  rites  have,  in  all  probability,  no  real 
existence,  but  are  a  product  of  popular  imagination."  ^ 
Their  resemblance  to  the  West  African  rites  is,  however, 
most  striking.^ 

VIL  North  America 

Among  the  North  American  Indians  the  evidence,  though 
scanty,  is  sufficient  to  indicate  the  former  presence  of  tribal 
initiation  ceremonies  and  tribal  secret  societies,  throughout 
possibly  the  entire  continent.  The  Tuscaroras  of  North 
Carolina,^  the  Creeks  of  Georgia,^  and  the  Pov^hatans  of 
Virginia,^  had  puberty  ceremonies  very  similar  to  those 
practised  in  Africa  and  Australia;  the  secret  societies  of 
the  Maidu  ^  and  Pomos^  of  Northern  California  present  close 
resemblances  to  those  of  other  primitive  peoples.  Through- 
out the  California  area  something  corresponding  to  a  secret 
society  is  found,  although  in  many  very  different  forms, 
to  some  of  which  the  strict  organization  of  a  society  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  belong.  It  seems,  however,  that  there  is 
everywhere  either  some  ceremony  conducted  by  a  special 
group  of  men  or  an  initiation  of  children  or  young  men."  ^ 
At  the  Toloache  fiesta  of  the  Dieguenos  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia, boys  were  initiated  according  to  the  long-established 
traditions  of  the  tribe.^    In  the  magical  fraternities  of  the 


^  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore,  i  (1888), 
18.  See  also  ii  (1889),  232-233;  iii 
(1890),  9-10,  241,  281-287;  iv  (1891), 
181-182.  For  a  good  description  of 
these  so-called  Voodoo  rites,  see 
Hesketh  Prichard,  Where  Black  rules 
White  (Westminster,  1900),  74-101. 

2  Cf.  Ellis,  Ewe-Speaking  Peoples, 
29-30. 

^  John  Lawson,  The  History  of 
Carolina  (Raleigh,  i860),  reprint  of 
the  London  edition  of  1714,  380-382. 
Lawson' s  account  is  reproduced  by 
John  Brickell,  The  Natural  History 
of  North  Carolina  (Dublin,  1737), 
405  sq. 

^  For  the  Boosketau  ceremonies  of 
the  Creeks,  see  Colonel  Benjamin 
Hawkins,  "A  Sketch  of  the  Creek 


Country  in  the  Years  1798  and  1799," 
Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical 
Society  (Savannah,  1848),  iii,  part  i, 
78-79. 

^  On  the  "  Huskanawing "  of  the 
Powhatan  Indians,  see  Robert  Bev- 
erley, The  History  of  Virginia  (Lon- 
don, 1722),  177-180. 

^  Dixon,  in  Bull.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat 
Hist.,  xvii  (1902),  35  sq. 

'  Powers,  "Tribes  of  Cahfornia," 
Contributions  to  North  Amer.  Ethnol., 
iii  (Washington,  1877),  305  sq. 

^  Kroeber  in  Publications  of  the 
University  of  California.  Series  in 
Amer.  Archceol.  and  Ethnol.,  ii  (1904), 
84-85. 

^  Miss  Dubois,  "Religious  Cere- 
monies and  Myths  of  the  Mission 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


Navajo,  Sia,  Zuni,  and  Hopi  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona, 
primitive  puberty  rites  have  survived  in  the  midst  of  cere- 
monies having  at  the  present  time  quite  other  purposes.^ 
Secret  societies  of  the  general  type  described  as  magical 
fraternities,  are  to  be  found  among  many  of  the  existing 
Indian  tribes.  They  have  been  most  carefully  studied 
among  the  Plains  Indians,  the  Zuni  and  Hopi  of  the  South- 
west, and  the  Kwakiutl  of  British  Columbia.  Such  societies 
probably  once  existed  in  every  community.  One  writer 
makes  bold  to  find  them  among  the  Mound-builders.^  It 
is  likely  that  the  tribes  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  some  of 
the  eastern  tribes,  such  as  the  Delawares  and  Iroquois, 
also  possessed  them,  but  unfortunately  they  were  never 
studied  by  the  early  travellers.  Among  the  Seminoles, 
the  Green  Corn  Dance  was  an  annual  celebration  in  charge 
of  the  medicine-men,  who  apparently  formed  a  fraternity 
and  had  a  secret  lodge. ^  The  Muskoki  of  Florida  organized 
fraternities  for  the  cure  of  various  diseases,  for  each  disease 
a  separate  fraternity.  Candidates  for  membership  under- 
went four  years  of  training.^  Among  the  Iroquois  there 
were  organizations  of  the  medicine-men  who  possessed 
special  dances.^  The  Cherokees  who  belong  to  the  Iro- 
quoian  stock  possess  a  large  collection  of  sacred  formulas 
covering  every  subject  pertaining  to  their  daily  life  and 
embodying,  in  fact,  the  entire  religious  beliefs  of  the  people. 
Formerly,  this  sacred  knowledge,  handed  down  orally  from 
remote  antiquity,  was  committed  to  the  keeping  of  secret 
societies,  but  the  long  contact  of  the  tribe  with  the  whites 

Indiajis^^  in  Amer.  Anthropologist f  new  Man^  ii  (1902),  101-106,  "An  Ameri- 

series,  vii  (1905),  620-629.  can  View  of  Totemism,"  with  the 

^  Supra,  183-189.  comments   by   Mr.   Hartland  and 

^  Peet  in  Amer.  Antiquarian,  xiii  Mr.  Thomas,  115-118. 
(1891),  315.    Some  aspects  of  these         ^  MacCauley  in  Fifth  Ann.  Rep. 

American  fraternities  are  discussed  Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington,  1887),  522. 
by  the  same  writer  in  an  address  on         ^  Powell  in  Trans.  Anthrop.  Soc. 

"Secret  Societies  and  Sacred  Mys-  of  Washington,  \\\  {i^'^^), 
teries,"  Memoirs  of  the  International         ^  Mrs.  E.  A.  Smith  in  Second 

Congress  of  Anthropology  (Chicago,  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington, 

1894),  176-198;  and  in  an  article  1883),   116;    Powell  in  Nineteenth 

in  Amer.  Antiquarian,  xxvii  (1905),  Ann.    Rep.     (Washington,  1900), 

88-96.    See  also  Major  Powell  in  p.  xlvii. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  215 


has  broken  down  these  organizations,  and  at  present  each 
priest  or  shaman  is  isolated  and  independent.^  Similarly 
there  have  been  found  among  the  Ojibwa  and  the  Menom- 
ini,  in  the  keeping  of  the  secret  societies,  copies  of  hitherto 
unknown  mnemonic  charts  and  songs  giving  the  legends 
of  tribal  genesis  and  cosmography,  carefully  preserved  on 
birch  bark  records.^ 

The  Midewiwiriy  or  Grand  Medicine  Society  of  the  Ojibwa, 
at  present  a  Minnesota  tribe,  exhibits  most  fully  the  Algon- 
quian  ritual.  Throughout  the  immense  area  occupied  by 
tribes  of  the  Algonquian  stock,  similar  ceremonies  probably 
were  universal.^  The  Mitawit  of  the  Menomini,  a  branch 
of  the  Algonquins  now  living  in  Wisconsin,  closely  resembles 
the  Midewiwiuy  on  which  it  was  probably  modelled:^  The 
Metawin  of  the  Bungees  presents  striking  likenesses  to  the 
two  societies  just  mentioned.  Numerous  lodges  of  this 
society  are  found  throughout  the  Lake  Superior  region.^ 

The  numerous  fraternities  maintained  by  tribes  of  the 
Siouan  stock  have  been  carefully  studied  by  a  number  of 
writers.  The  ceremonies  show  many  likenesses  to  those 
of  the  Algonquian  societies  and  no  doubt  have  been  much 
influenced  by  them.  This  spread  of  the  Algonquian  ritual 
throughout  tribes  belonging  to  a  different  linguistic  stock 
is,  no  doubt,  indicative  of  that  diffusion  of  rites  which  has 
taken  place  to  some  extent  all  over  North  America.^  The 


^  Mooney  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington,  1891), 
307  sq.;  id.,  Nineteenth  Ann.  Rep. 
(Washington,  1900),  229. 

^  Hoffman  in  Seventh  Ann.  Rep. 
Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington,  1891), 
286;  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rep.  (Wash- 
ington, 1896),  107. 

^  An  early  account  of  the  initia- 
tion into  the  Midewiwin  is  in  H.  R. 
Schoolcraft,  Information  respecting 
the  History,  Condition,  and  Prospects 
of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United 
States  (Philadelphia,  1855),  part  v, 
426  sq.  The  society  has  received 
a  most  elaborate  description  by 
W.  J.  Hoffman,  who  was  initiated 


into  it  and  witnessed  its  ceremonies 
in  1889,  Seventh  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.  (Washington,  189 1),  149-300. 
There  is  also  an  interesting  narrative 
by  a  former  chief  of  the  tribe,  G. 
Copway,  The  Traditional  History  and 
Characteristic  Sketches  of  the  Ojib- 
way  Nation  (Boston,  185 1),  160-169. 

^  For  a  full  account,  see  Hoffman 
in  Fourteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1896),  68-138. 

^  Simms,  *^The  Metawin  Society 
of  the  Bungees,  or  Swampy  Indians 
of  Lake  Winnipeg,"  in  Jour.  Amer. 
Folk-Lore,  xix  (1906),  330-333- 

^  One  of  the  earliest  descriptions 
relates  to  the  Wakon-Kitchewah,  or 


2i6        PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


society  known  as  Wacicka  among  the  Omahas,  and  under 
different  names  among  the  Winnebago,  Dakotas,  and 
other  Siouan  tribes,  clearly  exhibits  the  influence  of  the 
Algonquian  ritual,^  In  the  so-called  Sun  Dance  held  by 
nearly  all  tribes  of  Siouan  stock,  except  the  Winnebago  and 
Osage,  we  have  what  appears  to  be  a  genuinely  indepen- 
dent creation  little  influenced  by  the  Algonquian  practice. 
Among  the  tribes  of  Algonquian  stock  the  ceremony  seems 
to  have  been  confined  to  the  Blackfeet,  Cheyennes,  and 
Arapahoes.  The  Sun  Dance  is  also  found  among  the 
Kiowas  and  Pawnees,  the  Shoshoni  of  Wyoming,  and  the 
Utes  of  Utah.^  The  Okeepa  of  Mandans  is  a  variant  of 
the  Sun  Dance. ^    Among  many  of  the  Siouan  tribes  the 


Friendly  Society  of  the  Spirit,  of  the 
Naudowessies,  a  Siouan  tribe  on  the 
Upper  Missouri:  J.  Carver,  Travels 
through  the  Interior  Parts  of  North 
America  (London,  1778),  271  sq. 
On  the  other  societies  among  the 
Omaha,  Osage,  Kansa,  Ponka,  Win- 
nebago, and  Dakota  tribes,  see  Mary 
Eastman,  Dahcotah  (New  York, 
1849),  xix;  Miss  Fletcher  in  Jour. 
Amer.  Folk-Lore^  v  (1892),  135-144; 
Dorsey  in  Sixth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.  (Washington,  1888),  377, 
381 ;  Prescott  in  Schoolcraft,  op.  cit., 
part  ii  (Philadelphia,  1852),  171, 
175;  Pond  in  Collections  of  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society,  ii  (St.  Paul, 
1867),  37-41 ;  Thwaites  in  Collections 
of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Wis- 
consin, xii  (Madison,  1892),  423-425. 

^  For  a  description,  Dorsey  in 
Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.,  342- 
346;  Fletcher  in  Schoolcraft,  In- 
formation respecting  the  History,  Con- 
ditions, and  Prospects  of  the  Indian 
Tribes  of  the  United  States  (Phila- 
delphia, 1853),  part  iii,  286-288; 
Riggs  in  Contributions  to  North  Amer. 
Ethnol.,  ix  (Washington,  1893),  227- 
229;  Beckwith  in  Ann.  Rep.  Smith- 
sonian Institution  for  1886  (Washing- 
ton, 1889),  part  i,  246-249. 

2  Grinnell  in  Jour.  Amer.  Folk- 


Lore,  iv  (1891),  307-313;  id..  The 
Indians  of  To-Day  (Chicago,  1900), 
27  sc[-y  J-  O.  Dorsey  in  Eleventh 
Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington, 
1894),  450-467;  Riggs  in.  Contri- 
butions to  North  Amer.  Ethnol.,  ix 
(Washington,  1893),  229-232;  George 
A.  Dorsey,  ^'The  Arapaho  Sun  Dance; 
the  Ceremony  of  the  Offerings 
Lodge,''  Publications  of  the  Field 
Columbian  Museum,  Anthropological 
Series,  iv  (1903);  R.  I.  Dodge,  Our 
Wild  Indians  (Hartford,  Conn.,  1882), 
126-135,  257-260;  id.,  The  Plains 
of  the  Great  West  (New  York,  1877), 
257-260  (Cheyenne  Sun  Dance); 
Miss  Fletcher,  ''The  Sun  Dance  of  the 
Ogalalla  Sioux,"  in  Proc.  Amer. 
Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  xxxi  (1882),  580- 
584;  Lynd  in  Collections  of  the  Min- 
nesota Historical  Society,  ii  (St.  Paul, 
1865),  77-78;  Kroeber  in  Bidl.  Amer. 
Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  xviii,  part  ii,  152; 
S.  H.  Long,  Account  of  an  Expedition 
from  Pittsburgh  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains (Philadelphia,  1823),  i,  276-278 
(Hidatsa  Sun  Dance);  Beckwith  in 
Ann.  Rep.  Smithsonian  Institution 
for  1886  (Washington,  1889),  part  i, 
250;  Matthews  in  U.S.  Geological 
and  Geographical  Survey,  Miscellane- 
ous Publications,  no.  7,  45-46. 

^  George  Catlin,  Letters  and  Notes 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  217 


names  of  the  gentes,  subgentes,  and  phratries  are  subjects 
of  mysterious  reverence,  especially  among  such  tribes  as  the 
Osage,  Ponka,  and  Kansa,  where  the  secret  society  con- 
tinues in  all  its  power.  These  names  are  never  used  in 
ordinary  conversation/  ''Further  investigation  may  tend 
to  confirm  the  supposition  that  in  any  tribe  which  has 
mythic  names  for  its  members  and  its  social  divisions  (as 
among  the  Osage,  Kansa,  Quapaw,  Omaha,  Ponka,  Iowa, 
Oto,  Missouri,  Tutelo,  and  Winnebago),  or  in  one  which 
has  mythic  names  only  for  its  members  and  local  or  other 
names  for  its  social  divisions  (as  among  the  Dakota,  Assini- 
boin,  Mandan,  Hidatsa,  and  Crow),  there  are  now,  or  there 
have  been,  secret  societies  or  'The  Mysteries/"^ 

Among  the  tribes  of  Caddoan  stock,  various  elaborate 
ceremonial  rituals  have  been  analyzed  and  described.  Those 
of  the  Skidi  Pawnee  represent  perhaps  the  highest  develop- 
ment to  be  found  in  any  Indian  tribe. ^ 

Many  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Southwest,  though  of 
different  linguistic  stocks,  have  developed  fraternities,  the 
rites  of  which  give  evidence  of  a  long  process  of  fusion. 
The  Apache  are  possibly  an  exception :  no  clearly  defined 
medicine  lodges  or  secret  societies  have  so  far  been  found 
among  them.  Captain  Bourke,  who  made  a  careful  study 
of  the  tribe,  never  witnessed  "any  rite  of  religious  signifi- 
cance in  which  more  than  four  or  five,  or  at  the  most  six, 
of  the  medicine-men  took  part."  ^  The  Navajo,  belonging 
with  the  Apache  to  the  Athapascan  stock,  have  societies 


on  the  Manners,  Customs,  and  Con- 
dition of  the  North  American  In- 
dians (London,  1841),  i,  155-184; 
and  more  fully  in  0-Kee-Pa  (London, 
1867),  9  sq.;  see  also  Maximilien  de 
Wied-Neuwied,  Voyage  dans  Vlnte- 
rieur  de  VAmerique  du  Nord,  ii,  444- 
453. 

^  Dorsey  in  Sixth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.  (Washington,  1888),  396. 

2  Ibid.,  397. 

3  Miss  Fletcher,  ^^The  Hako:  A 
Pawnee  Ceremony"  in  Twenty -second 
Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol.  (Wash- 


ington, 1904),  part  ii,  13-368; 
Dorsey  '^Traditions  of  the  Skidi 
Pawnee,"  Mem.  Amer.  Folk -Lore  Sac, 
viii  (Boston,  1904),  p.  xx  sq.;  id.. 
Traditions  of  the  Arikara,"  Car- 
negie Institution  Publications ,  no.  17 
(Washington,  1904),  172  sq.;  id., 
''The  Mythology  of  the  Wichita," 
Carnegie  Institution  Publications, 
no.  21  (Washington,  1904),   16  sq. 

^  Ninth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1892),  452. 


2i8         PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


embracing  in  their  membership  nearly  every  adult  male  of 
the  community.^  Eight  magical  fraternities  have  been 
found  among  the  Sia,  formerly  an  important  tribe  of  western 
Nev^  Mexico,  whose  members  belong  to  the  Keresan  lin- 
guistic stock. ^  The  Zuni  of  northwestern  New  Mexico 
have  thirteen  secret  orders,  some  of  them  open  to  men  and 
women  alike,  besides  the  Ahshiwanni^  or  Priesthood  of  the 
Bow,  and  the  Kokko.^  The  medicine-men  among  the  Pimas 
of  Arizona  are  apparently  organized  in  fraternities.^ 

The  Hopi  Indians  of  northeastern  Arizona,  who  form 
what  is  known  as  the  Tusayan  Confederacy,  have  many 
fraternities.  The  Hopi  at  the  present  day  dwell  in  seven 
pueblos  on  three  mesas.  On  the  first  are  the  pueblos  of 
Walpi,  Sichumovi  (Sitcomovi),  and  Hano;  on  the  second, 
Mashonghnavi  (Miconinovi),  Shipaulovi  (Cipaulovi),  and 
Shumopavi  (Cunopavi) ;  on  the  third,  Oraibi.  The  Indians 
of  all  the  pueblos,  except  Hano,  are  of  Shoshonean  stock. 
The  Hano  people  belong  to  the  Tewan  group  of  Tanoan 
stock,  but  affiliate  with  the  Hopi  in  their  institutions.  The 
elaborate  ceremonies  which  comprise  the  Hopi  ritual  are 
divided  into  two  great  groups  of  the  Katcinas  and  the  Un- 
masked or  Nine  Days'  Ceremonials.  The  Katcinas  come 
in  December,  January,  February,  March,  April-June,  and 
July;  the  several  celebrations  during  these  months  being 


^  James  Stevenson,  "Ceremonial 
of  Hasjelti  Dailjis  and  Mythical  Sand 
Painting  of  the  Navajo  Indians/' 
Eighth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol., 
(Washington,  1891),  235-285;  Wash- 
ington Matthews  in  Jour.  Amer. 
Folk-Lore,  x  (1897),  260;  id.,  "The 
Mountain  Chant,  a  Navajo  Cere- 
mony," Fifth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1887),  385-467;  id.y 
"The  Night  Chant,  a  Navaho  Cere- 
mony," Mem.  Amer.  Mus.  Nat.  Hist., 
vol.  vi  (New  York,  1902). 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Eleventh  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington, 
1894),  9-157. 

^  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Fifth  Ann. 
Rep.  (Washington,  1887),  539-555; 


id.,  Memoirs  of  the  International 
Congress  of  Anthropology  (Chicago, 
1894),  315  sq.;  id.,  Amer.  Anthro- 
pologist, xi  (1898),  33-40;  id.,  "The 
Zuni  Indians:  Their  Mythology, 
Esoteric  Societies  and  Ceremonies  " 
in  Twenty-third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Amer.  Ethnol.  (Washington,  1904), 
esp.  407-608;  Cushing  in  Second 
Ann.  Rep.  (Washington,  1883),  9-45; 
Fewkes,  "A  Few  Summer  Cere- 
monials at  Zuni  Pueblo,"  Jour.  Amer. 
Ethnol.  and  Archceol.,  i  (1891),  1-61; 
Gore  in  Trans.  Anthrop.  Soc.  of 
Washington,  i  (1882),  88. 

*  Grossmann  in  Ann.  Rep.  Smith- 
sonian Inst,  for  i8ji  (Washington, 
1873),  413. 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  219 


known  respectively  as  Soyalunay^  Pa^  Powamu^  Palulu- 
kontiy^  the  abbreviated  KatctnaSy^  and  Niman.^  The  Un- 
masked or  Nine  Days'  Ceremonials  come  in  August, 
September,  October,  and  November  and  are  known  re- 
spectively as   the   Snake    and  Flute  ^  ceremonies,  Lala- 


^  The  Soyaluna,  a  winter  solstice 
ceremony  observed  in  six  of  the  Hopi 
pueblos  by  the  Soyal  fraternity,  is 
described  by  Messrs.  Dorsey  and 
Voth,  "The  Oraibi  Soyal  Ceremony," 
Publications  of  the  Field  Columbian 
Museum y  Anthropological  Series,  iii 
(1901),  no.  i;  see  also  Fewkes  in 
Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1897),  268-273;  id., 
*^The  Winter  Solstice  Ceremony  at 
Walpi,"  Amer.  Anthropologist,  xi 
(1898),  65-87,  101-109;  id.,  ''The 
Winter  Solstice  Altars  at  Hano 
Pueblo,"  Amer.  Anthropologist,  new 
series,  i  (1899),  251-276. 

2  This  festival,  varying  greatly 
in  the  different  pueblos,  has  not  been 
described. 

3  H.  R.  Voth,  ''The  Oraibi 
Powamu  Ceremony,"  Publications 
of  the  Field  Columbian  Museum, 
Anthropological  Series,  iii  (1901), 
no.  2 ;  Fewkes  in  Fifteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington, 
1897),  274-290. 

^  J.  W.  Fewkes,  "ThePalulukonti: 
A  Tusayan  Ceremony,"  Jour.  Amer. 
Folk-Lore,  vi  (1893),  269-282;  id.. 
Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1897),  291. 

^  Fewkes,  "A  Few  Summer  Cere- 
monials at  the  Tusayan  Pueblos," 
Jour.  Amer.  Ethnol.  and  ArchceoL, 
ii  (1892),  53  sq.;  see  also  id.. 
Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1897),  292-304.  On 
the  general  significance  of  the  Kat- 
cina  rites,  see  Fewkes  in  Jour.  Amer. 
Folk-Lore,  xiv  (1901),  81-94;  id.. 
Fifteenth  Ann.  Rep.,  251-313; 
id..  Twenty -first  Ann.  Rep.,  13- 
126. 

^  Fewkes,  Fifteenth  Ann,  Rep., 


292;  id..  Jour.  Amer.  Ethnol.  and 
ArchceoL,  ii  (1892),  69  sq. 

^  The  remarkable  ceremonies  com- 
monly known  as  the  Snake  Dance  are 
celebrated  by  the  Snake  and  Ante- 
lope fraternities,  simultaneously  every 
year  in  five  of  the  Hopi  pueblos. 
See  Fewkes,  "The  Snake  Ceremonies 
at  Walpi,"  Jour.  Amer.  Ethnol. 
and  ArchceoL,  iv  (1894),  7-124, 
with  a  full  bibliography  of  the  cere- 
moniqs  as  performed  in  1891  and 
1893.  In  "Tusayan  Snake  Cere- 
monies," Sixteenth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Amer.  Ethnol.,  273-311,  Mr.  Fewkes 
has  treated  the  dance  as  prac- 
tised at  Cipaulovi,  Cunopavi,  and 
Oraibi.  In  "Notes  on  Tusayan 
Flute  and  Snake  Ceremonies,"  Nine- 
teenth Ann.  Rep.  Bur.  Amer.  Ethnol. 
(Washington,  1900),  963-101 1,  Mr. 
Fewkes  has  completed  his  elaborate 
studies  by  describing  the  dance  as 
practised  at  Miconinovi.  Messrs. 
Dorsey  and  Voth  have  recently 
published  another  illuminating  ac- 
count of  the  Miconinovi  rites,  "The 
Mishongnovi  Ceremonies  of  the  Snake 
and  Antelope  Fraternities,"  Pub- 
lications of  the  Field  Columbian 
Museum,  Anthropological  Series,  iii 
(1902),  no.  3.  Mr.  Voth  has  given 
us  a  very  full  account  of  "The 
Oraibi  Summer  Snake  Ceremony," 
Publications  of  the  Field  Columbian 
Museum,  Anthropological  Series,  iii 
(1902),  no.  4.  Captain  Bourke  in 
The  Snake-Dance  of  the  Moquis 
of  Arizona  (London,  1884),  was 
the  first  to  call  attention  to  the 
significance  of  the  Hopi  rites.  There 
are  reasons  for  beheving  that  the 
Snake  Dance  was  formerly  practised 
over  a  wide  area.    It  presents  strong 


PRIMITIVE  SECRET  SOCIETIES 


konta^^  Mamzrautiy^  and  Wowochimtu^  known  in  its  more 
elaborate  form  as  Naacnaiya}  There  are  many  resem- 
blances between  the  Zuni  and  Hopi  religious  systems  as 
also  many  differences,  making  it  impossible  at  present  to 
determine  conclusively  how  much  borrowing  has  gone  on 
between  the  two  peoples.^  The  Sia  and  Hopi  rites  have 
also  many  elements  in  common.^ 

Among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest  we  find  numer- 
ous secret  societies  in  close  connection  with  the  class  system. 
The  societies  existing  among  the  Kwakiutl  of  British  Colum- 
bia are  reproduced  in  those  of  the  Nootka  and  Coast 
Salish  of  Vancouver  Island,  and  the  Tsimshian,  Nisqua, 
Haida,  and  Tlingit  inhabiting  the  coast  of  British  Columbia 
to  Alaska.  ''The  performances  themselves  are  essentially 
the  same  from  Alaska  t(j  Juan  de  Fuca  Strait."  Professor 
Boas  argues  that  the  present  character  of  the  societies  among 
these  various  tribes  was  attained  among  the  Kwakiutl,  and 
was  spread  from  this  tribe  over  the  vast  territory  in  which 
these  secret  societies  are  now  found.  The  Aleuts  are  known 
to  have  had  secret  societies  before  their  conquest  and  con- 
version to  Christianity  by  the  Russians.^    The  Sciatl,  of 


affinities  to  the  Nahuatl  and  Maya 
rites  (Fewkes,  "A  Central  American 
Ceremony  which  suggests  the  Snake 
Dance  of  the  Tusayan  Villagers," 
Amer.  Anthropologist^  vi,  1893,  285- 
305).  On  the  Flute  ceremonies, 
see  Fewkes  in  Jour.  Amer.  Ethnol.  and 
ArchceoL,  ii  (1892),  108-150;  id., 
''The  Walpi  Flute  Observance:  A 
Study  of  Primitive  Dramatization," 
Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore,  vii  (1894), 
265-287. 

^  Fewkes,  "The  Lalakonta:  A 
Tusayan  Dance,"  Amer.  Anthro- 
pologist, V  (1892),  105-129. 

2  Fewkes,  ''The  Mamzrauti:  A 
Tusayan  Ceremony,"  Amer.  Anthro- 
pologist, V  (1892),  217-242. 

^  Id.,  The  New-Fire  Ceremony 
at  Walpi,"  Amer.  Anthropologist, 
new  series,  ii  (1900),  80-138.  Cf. 
for  an  earher  description,  ''The 
Naacnaiya:    A  Tusayan  Initiation 


Ceremony,"  Jour.  Amer.  Folk-Lore, 
V  (1892),  189-217.  There  are  no 
New-Fire  Ceremonies  at  Sitcomovi  or 
Hano,  but  they  are  found,  probably, 
in  all  the  other  Hopi  pueblos.  Some 
idea  of  the  multitude  and  complexity 
of  these  Hopi  rites,  which  follow 
a  ceremonial  calendar  in  a  definite 
and  prescribed  sequence,  is  afforded 
by  Mr.  Fewkes's  "Provisional  List 
of  Annual  Ceremonials  at  Walpi," 
Intern.  Archiv  f.  Ethnogr.,  viii  (1895), 
215-236.  A  partial  bibhography  of 
the  investigations  made  by  Mr. 
Fewkes  will  be  found  in  Amer.  An- 
thropologist, xi  (1898),  110-115. 

^  Cf.  Fewkes  in  Fifteenth  Ann. 
Rep.  Bur.  Ethnol.  (Washington, 
1897),  304  sq. 

^  Id.,  "A  Comparison  of  Sia  and 
Tusayan  Snake  Ceremonials,"  Amer. 
Anthropologist,  viii  (1895),  118-141. 

^  Dall  in  Third  Ann.  Rep.  Bur, 


DIFFUSION  OF  INITIATION  CEREMONIES  221 


British  Columbia,  a  coast  division  of  Salish  stock,  have  no 
institutions  resembhng  the  Kwakiutl  societies.  A  period 
of  seclusion  at  puberty  is,  however,  obligatory  for  both 
sexes. ^  The  use  of  masks  at  the  religious  festivals  of  the 
Central  Eskimo  is  a  probable  indication  of  the  existence 
of  secret  rites  among  these  tribes.^ 


Ethnol.  (Washington,  1884),  139; 
Nelson  in  Eighteenth  Ann.  Rep.,  358, 
395 

On  the  Kwakiutl  societies,  see  the 
elaborate  investigation  of  Dr.  Franz 
Boas,  '^The  Social  Organization  and 
the  Secret  Societies  of  the  Kwakiutl 
Indians,"  Report  of  U.  S.  National 
Museum  for  i8gj  (Washington,  1897), 
315-664;  id.  in  Festschrift  fur  Adolf 
Bastian  (Bedin,  1896),  437-443; 
Jacobsen  in  Ausland,  Ixiii  (1890), 
267-269,  290-293;  Swanton,  ''The 
Development  of  the  Clan  System  and 
of  Secret  Societies  among  the  North- 
western Tribes,"  Amer.  Anthropol- 
ogist, new  series,  vi  (1904),  477-485. 
On  those  of  the  Kluquolla  of  Van- 
couver Island,  see  Matthew  Macfie, 
Vancouver  Island  and  British  Colum- 
bia (London,  1865),  433  sq.;  R.  C. 
Mayne,  Four  Years  in  British  Amer- 
ica and  Vancouver  Island  (London, 


1862),  268.  On  the  Dukwally  and 
other  mysteries  of  the  Indians  of 
Cape  Flattery,  see  Swan  in  Smith- 
sonian Contributions  to  Knowledge, 
xvi,  no.  220,  63  sq.;  G.  M.  Sproat, 
Scenes  and  Studies  of  Savage  Life 
(London,  1868),  271;  Eells  in  Ann. 
Rep.  Smithsonian  Institution  for 
1887  (Washington,  1889),  part  i, 
666.  On  those  among  the  Tcilqeuk, 
Niska^  and  the  Western  Denes,  see 
Hill -Tout  in  Rep.  Brit.  Assoc.  Adv. 
Sci.,  Ixxii  (1902),  358;  Boas,  ibid., 
Ixv  (1895),  575  sq.;  Morice  in 
Trans.  Canadian  Inst.,  iv  (1895), 
204  sq. 

^  Hill -Tout  in  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst., 
xxxiv  (1904),  25,  32. 

^  Boas,  in  Sixth  Ann.  Rep.  Bur. 
Ethnol.,  605-608 ;  id..  Bull.  Amer.  Mus. 
Nat.  Hist.,  XV,  part  i  (1901),  138  sq. 


INDEX  TO  NATIVE  TERMS 


148. 


Abakwetay  44. 
A  fa,  210. 
Agagara,  126. 
Agud,  100. 
Ahl,  189. 

Ahshiwanni,  183,  218. 
Akaipa,  104. 
Akitcita,  131. 
Akonwarahf  180. 
i4/(i,  159. 

Alcheringa,  140,  140  n^,  141  n, 
Alkirakiwuma,  85. 
^/o/,  3. 

Ambaquerka,  85. 
^wi/,  201. 
Amporo,  211. 
^  Ngaula,  5. 
Apouema,  200. 
Apulia,  191,  19111^,192. 
Arakurta,  85. 
Are-karieij  168  n^. 

Areoi,  122,  124    13011^,  163,  164-168, 

169,  170,  172,  202,  203. 
^rz,  153  n^  15411. 
^n'^i,  82,  168 
Ariltha,  85. 
Armengol,  169. 
^r67g,  14. 

29,  31,  53,  68,  104,  105  n^, 

9. 

Augud,  7. 
i4>'a^a,  117  209. 

Bahito  (Baito),  56. 
J5af,  169,  16911^. 
Baiamai,  96,  9811^. 
Baidam,  145 
Balei,  8. 
Baleuw,  8,  9. 
Balillie,  85. 
Bantje,  4. 
Bam,  129,  201. 


197. 


223 


Barium,  4,  26,  31,  68,  197,  197  n*. 
Bayaawu,  133,  133  n^. 
Beit-ef-fohfa,  14. 

Belli-paaro,  55,  108,  117,  210  n^. 

Biamban,  97. 

Boguera,  45. 

Bomai,  97  n^. 

Boosketau,  213  n*. 

21,  22,  29,  29  30,  36,  36  n^*^,  50, 
50  n2,  70  nS  71,  72,  76  nS  83,  85,  86,  96, 
97>  137-140,  144,  19I)  191ns  192, 
19511. 

Bourka,  84. 

Boyale,  45. 

Buambramba,  4. 

Buckli,  51. 

Bullawang,  100. 

Bunan,  29,  67  n^,  86,  97  n^,  191  n*. 

Bundu,  120  n*. 

Burbong,  72,  97,  99,  191  n*. 

Bure-ni-sa,  12. 

Bweni,  13. 

Bweti,  208. 

Calpule,  15. 
Chilinchili,  177. 
Chookadoo,  85. 

Churinga,  40,  61,  62,  64,  141  n,  142,  157. 

Z)a/a,  69. 
Dangal,  162. 
Dangur,  128. 

Daramulun,  66,  96,  97,  9811*,  99. 

Dewarra,  94,  in. 

Dhumkuria,  9. 

Dz7i7,  87. 

Djamboer,  8. 

Djemaa,  14. 

Dorrunmai,  72. 

r><?w,  171,  211. 

Dschemma,  14,  90. 

Dubu,  4,  62,  63,  68,  102,  103. 


INDEX  TO  NATIVE  TERMS 


Duka,  105  n^. 

Dukduk,  31,  41,  42,  53,  76  nS  83,  93,  94, 
95,  10511^,  106  n,  108,  109,  110-114, 
121,  123,  130112,  162,  163,  167,  198, 
199,  200,  212  n^. 

Dukwally,  221  n. 

Duli,  80. 

Dzhe  ManidOj  179. 
EekliisharOy  88. 

Egbo,  83,  94,  9411^,  115-117,  118  n^,  120, 
121,  122,  126,  127,  167,  204,  209. 

Egungufty  105  n^,  105  n^,  117,  120,  172, 
173,  210. 

Eineth,  163. 

EkongolOy  94  n^,  105  n^,  105  n',  209. 

El-moran,  87,  88. 

El-morno,  87. 

Elungy  122,  209. 

EmpacasseiroSy  108  n^. 

Engera,  87. 

Engwura,  30,  61,  63  n^,  67,  77  n,  85,  91, 
140-142,  143,  144,  152,  161,  193. 

Eramo  {Elamo,  Eraho,  Eravo),  4,  5,  86, 
102. 

Ernatulunga,  62. 
Ertwakurka,  85. 
Estufa^  17,  18. 

Falatele,  11. 
Fawi,  9. 
Ferajiry  89. 
Fulaariy  197. 

Ga/f?,  28,  45. 
Gamal,  6,  130  n^. 
Ghaha,  89. 
Gnekhadiy  90. 
Gojamhuly  171. 
Grepon,  15. 
Gulguly  129. 
Guma,  69. 
GunukOy  210. 

Uaethuska,  132. 
HakOy  217  n^. 
Hamatsa,  40. 

Masjelti  DailjiSy  185,  186,  218  n^. 

HatatkurVy  57. 

HeapUy  86. 

HeavGy  86. 

HeiaUy  11. 

HoubOy  13. 


7&^/,  65. 

Idiong  {Idion,  Idien)y  107,  115,  122, 

171,  209. 
/^ww,  112  n^,  118  n^,  209. 

Ikunuhkahtsiy  133. 
Ilpongwurray  85. 
Imeium,  6. 
ImisholugUy  175. 
Ingiety  66  n,  199. 
7ma/,  105  n^. 
Intichiumay  143,  14411. 
Irkun  oknirray  62. 
Iruntariniay  142. 
Isintonga,  175. 
Iwanzay  13. 

Jeme^V,  27,  59,  97,  195  n. 
Jurupariy  64,  177. 

Kabenday  89. 
KabOy  22,  49. 
Kadjawalung,  25,  86  n^. 
KaevakukUy  102,  103,  161. 
Kahe,  89. 
Kaimahufiy  94. 
Kaioiy  168. 
KaitsenkOy  133. 

Kakiauy  39,  54,  124,  125,  196. 

Kaldebekel,  169. 
Kashim  {Kozge)y  18. 
Katahwiriy  210. 
Katajalina,  98 

Katcinay  158,   158  n^,  158       159,  183, 

187,  189,  218,  219,  21911^. 
Katsuna,  187. 
Kavay  54. 
Kediboy  90. 

Keeparray  67,  72,  191  n*. 

Kernge,  162. 

Khambiy  88. 

KhiekOy  88. 

Khotlay  12. 

Kinay  56,  177. 

Kitshi  ManidOy  182. 

iiTiVa,  16,  17,  187,  188,  189. 

Kivitziy  89. 

Kiwangay  45. 

Kodaly  145 

i^<9W,  96. 

KokkOy  123,  187,  188,  218. 
Kokorray  114  n^,  199. 
Kongcorongy  211. 


INDEX  TO  NATIVE  TERMS 


Kookoorimaro,  92. 
KosharCy  183  n*. 
Kovavey  10 1,  102. 
Kraal,  13,  87. 
Kudsha,  86. 
Kufong,  171,  210. 
Kuhkwi,  172. 

Kulpi,  84,  90,  91,  91  n^,  194  n^. 
Kumehy  41. 
Kuranda,  36,  72. 
Kuringal,  22,  49. 
Kwan,  189. 

6,  7,  53,  145,  146,  161,  162. 

Labis,  211. 

Lalakonta,  159,  219,  220,  220  n*. 

Lari,  178. 

Lartna,  85,  91  n^. 

Leiok,  87. 

Lenya,  159. 

Z-f?&(?,  8. 

Losango,  209. 

Lubuku,  108,  118  n^,  122. 

Mabema,  89. 

Madai,  6. 

Madjaha,  89. 

Madjinga,  89. 

Madoda,  89. 

Maduba,  78  n. 

Mafera,  88. 

Magur,  10 1. 

Mahoui,  166. 

Maia,  69. 

Maiau,  145,  146. 

Maiola,  69. 

Ma/,  129. 

Malai,  11. 

Malai-asu,  86. 

Malanda,  208,  212  n. 

Malu,  97  n^,  loi,  146. 

Mamzrauti,  159,  220,  220  n^. 

Manabush,  57,  155. 

Manganga,  126. 

Maniapa,  11. 

Manido,  155,  180,  181. 

Manitou,  148,  149,  151, 152, 153  n*,  154  n. 

Maora,  89. 

Mam  (Moroi),  11. 

Marae(Marai),  11,  166,  167-168,  16911^. 
Maramba,  208 

Q 


Marawot,  31. 
Marea,  4. 
Marrou,  23. 
Marsaba,  103. 
Masha  Manido,  155. 
Matambala,  127,  199. 
Ma/a  pulega,  205. 
Mbuiri,  173  n^. 
Mbwamvu  anjata,  107. 
Merib,  128. 
Mespil,  170. 
Metawin,  215,  215  n^. 
M/a^'a,  88. 
M^'c^g,  178,  182. 

Midewiwin,  18  n\  123,  154,  15511',  179, 

180,  181,  182,  18211^,  215,  21511^. 
Minabozho,  15611^,179,  182. 
Mindari,  84,  90. 
Minkani,  144  n. 
Mitawikomik,  57. 

Mitawit,  57,  123,  155,  180,  18211^,  215. 

Morang,  10. 
M'Quichi,  173  n'. 
Muanza,  64. 
Mudji,  77  n,  97. 
Muemba,  209. 
Mukuku,  209. 

Mumbo  Jumbo  {Mahammah  Jamhoh), 

42,  118-119,  211. 
Mundu  Mzuri,  89. 
Mungi,  209,  209  n'. 
Murukkundi,  92. 
Murwin,  86 
Mutumia,  89. 
Muvitzi,  89. 
Mwanake,  89. 
Mwetyi,  107,  120. 

Naacnaiya,  220,  22011^. 
Naferi,  211. 
Nagual,  125,  15411. 
Nahor,  128,  129. 

Nanga  (Mbaki),  26,  27,  31,  54,  64,  68, 
69,  73,  76  n^,  79,  86,  164,  168,  201,  202, 

202 

Nanga  tambutambu,  64. 
Narramang,  86. 
Narumbe,  72. 

iVJa  (Mda),  120,  120  n^,  172,  208. 
Ndembo  (Nkita),  39,  41  n^,  42,  122,  174, 
175,  176,  208,  208 


226  INDEX  TO  NATIVE  TERMS 


Nehue-Cue,  183  n*. 
Nganga,  174,  175. 
Nganga  Nkissi,  118  n*. 
Ngi,  66  n,  208. 
Nguttan,  86 
Niman,  219. 
Nitu,  39. 
Nitu  Elak,  39. 

Njembe,  i2on*,  172,  211  n^. 

Nkimba,  42,  9411^,  107,  109,  117,  171, 

173,  174,  i75>  176,  207,  208,  208  ni. 
Nullah  nullah,  50. 
Nurti,  89. 
A^);erg,  88. 

Oghoni,  5011^,  109,  117,  119,  176,  209. 

Oha,  82. 
O^eg,  57. 

Okeepa,  183-185,  216. 

Oknanikilla,  140  n^,  141  n. 

Oro  (Oru),  115, 117,  118  n\  119,  120,  210. 

Osale,  8. 

Oshogbo,  210. 

OwakulH,  157,  159. 

Pa,  219. 

Pabufunan,  9. 

Palangkan,  9. 

Palnatareij  5. 

Paluduka,  105  n*. 

Palulukonti,  219,  21911*. 

Pangah,  7. 

Papang,  97. 

Par  at,  168. 

Parak,  3. 

Parol,  104. 

Pelak,  100. 

Penda-Penda,  211. 

Peyotl,  125. 

Piraru,  90. 

Poogthun,  132. 

Porrang,  96. 

Poshaiankia,  179. 

Powamu,  189,  189  n^,  219,  219  n^. 

Purr  ah  {Purr  oh,  Poro),  38,  39,  41  n^,  94, 

107,  no,  115,  116  n^,  118  n^,  120  n^, 

122,  172  n,  210. 

Qa/,  164,  167  n,  200. 
Qa/w,  38,  199,  200. 
Quequtsa,  152. 
<2e/ii,  38  n2. 


Q^/w,  164,  200. 

Quabara,  141,  141      152,  158,  161,  184. 

Roemah  kompanij  8. 
Romaluli,  8. 
Ruai,  7,  8. 

a  tahol,  163  n^. 

a         163  n^. 
Rukruk  (Burri),  92,  199,  199  n^. 
Rumslam,  3. 
Runanga,  204,  205. 

Salagoro,  128. 
5aw,  145  n^. 
Saniakiakwe,  181. 
Schijigalet,  80. 
Sedasi,  89. 
Sedibo,  90. 
Selogunia,  87. 
Sembe,  210. 
Semese,  62,  63. 
Shipapulima,  179. 
Sibjan,  90. 
Sicuri,  212  n^. 
Sifsan,  18 
^/^a^*,  145,  146. 
5^"^^?,  127. 
Simanlo,  6. 

5^'w67  {Semo,  Simon),  172,  211. 
Sindungo,  108,  108  n^,  117,  208. 

Sisili,  68. 
6*0^^?,  8. 

Soyaluna,  219,  219  n^. 

^'wg'^,  108,  129-130,  13011^,  165  n'. 

Surlal,  162. 

Taftw  (Tapu),  109,  170. 
Taf,  7,  161. 
Taikyuw,  18. 
Taiokwod,  144. 
Takwura,  168. 
Talohu,  114  n^. 

Parnate,  108,  109,  no,  128,  13011^,  200. 

Taraiu,  114. 

T^ar^?,  68,  103. 

Tataokani,  189. 

Tecuhtli,  82. 

Telpuchali,  15. 

Temes,  129. 

Thrumalun,  99. 

Tidbut,  79. 

Tiponif  157. 


INDEX  TO  NATIVE  TERMS 


Tippdkal^  96. 

J.   V  y\/ y                11  y    Xv/W  II* 

F*?"/,  63  n^. 

Vwnilnln  fKfi 

Todfdy  191  n^. 

WW   VVly  Vly  fVK4/ y      X^S,  ^XV^« 

jVdidty       161,  162. 

r<9^*65,  89. 

Wdkon-Kitchewdhy  215  n'. 

Tokii?d.  IK, 

Wdningdy  63  n^. 

ToholOy  132. 

TFarrarfZ,  84. 

Wccdcgdh  GdJtTBCTfidiy  3. 

TondOy  12. 

TFe/w,  164. 

Tsidhky  181. 

Whdre  Kurdy  170,  171  n\  175. 

T'uhunn'yt, 

Vi/^ltCLrp.  T^U'H.n.fi.crfi  odA 

WW  iV\A/f\>   x\~vvfv\Jvrv^KlVy  ^\JC^* 

Tuggdhilldy  30. 

WW  vv^vwvrf^y  yJ^» 

Tttfvwupkdtcifidj  189* 

Wifttiy  157. 

Turndufiy  100. 

Witcitdy  181. 

Tutu  J  II. 

WitydlkinyeSy  84. 

Twdfiyirikdj  98  n^,  99,  100. 

Wonzdlonz-.  8^. 
Wowochiftty  189  n^. 

UkukUj  10511^,  107,  118  n^,  208,  211  n^. 

WowochimtUy  189, 189  n^,  220. 

Ukukwe^  208. 

TFwwi/a,  44  n^. 

Ulptnerkdy  85. 
Uttidiy  145  n^. 

TFwr/ev.  ^. 

Wurtjdy  85. 

Umdluliky  8. 

Umbd,  13911^. 

Umbirndy  13911^, 

Yddup.  Sk. 

Un^unid,  2,  22. 

Ydifdhe.  1^2, 

UnkulunkulUy  206. 

Ydsiy  118  n^,  127,  172,  208,  211 

Uritoiy  169,  202,  203  n*. 

Ydssiy  1 20  n*. 

Urlidrdf  85,  140. 

Fe^*,  186,  187. 

Z7/5e/,  156112. 

Yeponiy  93. 
YugUy  209. 

Faw^a,  175. 

Yukukuldy  120  n*. 

F^/a,  175. 

Yuppieriy  40,  92. 

Fere,  64,  86. 

Fere  ntdtud,  86. 

ZdfighetOy  117,  210. 

VUavou,  86. 

ZogolCy  100. 

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